Ocean and Ice
by Capn Wendy
Summary: You have to experience sadness in order to know happiness, and I remind myself that not every day will be a good one. I could feel it in my stomach from the moment I woke up to the moment it happened. Today would not be a good one.
1. (1) Reunion

**Why hello there! If you've come from The First Female Host to see what this rewrite will be like, thank you and I hope I don't disappoint :) but if you've just strolled across this story while browsing, it's fine since this can be read as it's own story anyway and I'd actually prefer you didn't read the jumble of cringe that is Chapter One of The First Female Host.**

 **Dun dun dunnnnn. Look at me, throwing shade at my own story...damn...**

 **I'm kidding. But don't read it. I mean, I can't stop you I guess, but I'm doing you a favour mkay.**

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 **Bold** \- An author's note from yours truly ;)

 _Italics_ \- Character POV's, emphasis on a word, letters, song lyrics, messages, etc.

Underline \- To make important info stand out or just to make the lay out a lil' bit prettier~(?)

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 **Chapter 1 : Reunion**

 _You would not believe your eyes_

 _If ten million Fireflies_

 _Lit up the world when I fell asleep_

 _Marcelline POV_

I stood awkwardly at the door of the Hitachiin residence, my hands clasped tightly together behind me in an attempt to seem calm and sophisticated. And to hide how sweaty they were, because ew. I sighed. I'd read somewhere that sighing is a good way to pause, gather your thoughts and (literally) take a breather; it's supposed to be a way of helping the mind and body relax.

Needless to say, sighing had become a habit of mine when something was on my mind. It's one of the reasons why my childhood friend, Haruhi, knows when I'm lying; other than the fact that I'm a terrible liar in general. In another attempt to seem sophisticated, I was wearing clothes that I hoped were a classy-casual kind of style. I'd left my hair down, the ends - which curled slightly, against my will - resting on the small of my back. I wore a plain, grey - and slightly oversized - jumper which nearly covered the pleated black skirt I wore underneath. The collar of my white blouse stuck out, working nicely with the slightly transparent white thigh-high socks and black trainers with white laces*.

Before I was ready, - though I doubt I ever would've been - the door swung open and I was met by a cheerful woman with dark red hair tied in a bun who greeted me with a warm, welcoming smile. "Haninozuka-san?" She asked, and I nodded in confirmation, adding a smile of my own which caused her's to widen. She opened the door wider, enough for me - along with my drivers who were carrying my bags and suitcases - to walk in. "We've been expecting you," the woman said, and I assumed she was a maid as she beckoned over another woman in an identical dress and apron to her own. "Yuzuha-sama is in her office, she asked me to take you straight to her when you arrived. Is that alright?"

"Of course, if it's no trouble." I replied, even though I knew there was no point in adding the last part other than to be polite. It didn't matter if it was trouble or not, since doing troublesome things was part of her job. The other woman she'd called over gestured for my driver to follower her in the other direction down the hall to where I assumed my room must have been.

The red haired woman made small talk as we walked. She told me her name was Manami Hitoshi, but when I addressed her as Hitoshi-san she waved a dismissive hand at me and said I was free to call her Mana-san instead. "It's what Yuzuha-sama and her sons call me, so it's what I'm used to." She explained, and I told her she could call me whatever she was comfortable with in return since I knew 'Haninozuka-san' was a bit of a mouthful. I managed to get her to settle on calling me 'Marcie' instead of the full 'Marcelline', but she insisted on still using the 'sama' honorific like she did with the Hitachiin's. We reached the door to Yuzuha's office and Mana-san sent me a reassuring nod as she knocked on the door, again opening wide enough for me to step in after hearing a reply from inside.

She closed the door behind me, and I walked confidently to where a tall, slender woman was leaning against a posh-looking desk to the right of the room. I presumed the woman to be Yuzuha Hitachiin, because as well as being the only other person in the room, she was indeed dressed glamorously enough to be the owner of a house that was so...well, glamorous. She wore a tight black skirt that came down to just above her knee, and a matching, slim-fitted black blazer which was undone, exposing her white blouse underneath. On her feet were black stilettos which she somehow managed to pull off as looking graceful and sophisticated. Her hair was a short, pale ginger that spiked off in random directions but again, it still only added to her classy aura; as did the thin silver earrings with teardrop-diamonds that dangled and swung at the slightest movement. Her eyes and smile were kind but intimidating, which gave the impression that she was not to be crossed; like she was the boss at an elaborate and successful company. Which she was.

Aside from the small area with a work desk, a coffee table and some chairs, the rest of the room was occupied by mannequins. Each with its own unique design and tangle of tape measures and post-it notes with measurements. Mirrors of various sizes, book cases full of notebooks and draws and cupboards full of a variety of fabrics and ribbons took up all available space on the walls that hadn't already been taken up by pin-boards overflowing with hand-drawn designs. Not to mention the various mugs of half full cups of tea scattered around, some with a tea bag still dangling over the side.

She greeted me with a wide yet understanding smile, like she was excitedly to see me but didn't want want to smother me. "You must be Layla's daughter!" She guessed, holding a hand out for me to shake.

"Yes," I nodded in reply as I took it, "I really can't thank you enough for letting me stay here, Mrs Hitachiin." Something like amusement flickered in her eyes as she told me the same thing Mana-san had earlier.

"Please dear, just call me Yuzuha. And it's really no trouble at all - anything for Layla's little girl!" I noticed a hint of fondness in her tone whenever she said my mothers name. Not that it was surprising, since they'd apparently been best friends when they went to school as well as working together a few times throughout their careers. I recalled meeting her a few times at business parties during my childhood, so it was reassuring knowing she wasn't a complete stranger.

Then, the excitement in the woman's eyes faded and she gripped my hand as our hand-shake drew to an end, placing her other hand over my own and patting it reassuringly. "I couldn't believe it when she fell ill," she said, talking slower now; her voice little more than a whisper, "she'd always been so cheerful and energetic. I can't imagine what it must've been like for you."

I smiled gratefully. 'You have no idea,' I thought.

She studied my face for a moment, her eyes flicking to each of mine before releasing my hand and rummaging in her pocket. She pulled out a small slip of paper with a phone number on it and handed it to me; "That's our driver's number. You can use it to go see them at the hospital whenever you want, he's always on standby." I gripped the paper tightly in my hand and smiled again, more genuinely this time, and stepped forward, daring to pull her into a tight hug.

She stroked my blonde hair calmly and reassuringly as I resisted the urge to nuzzle into the crook of her neck, drowning my nose in the scent of her perfume. "Poor thing," she mumbled, "just a child..." I wasn't sure if she was talking about me at this point or my sister, but I blinked away tears all the same.

Later, she introduced me to her sons, Hikaru and Kaoru. They were identical twins who were witty, polite and resembled their mother immensely; each with the same orange spikey hair and hazel eyes, though their hair was parted like curtains as if there was a rotating fan dangling in the space between them. They were both reasonably tall, and had glints of mischief in their eyes, however they differed in intensity: with the one who had his hair parted to the left appearing slightly kinder in terms of the way he shook my hand and how he smiled compared to how his brother was more hesitant and stiff, still unsure of me. His voice was also less deep and slightly croaky at times as if he had a cold. He introduced himself as Hikaru, but not before sharing a glance with his brother which - unfortunately for them, - gave away their little trick straight away. I knew what it was because it was a trick I used to play with my previously mentioned sister before the accident. I decided to let them get on with it for now; after all, introducing yourself as your identical twin was harmless fun, and if I wanted to make a good impression then it wouldn't go too well to spoil it. They said I could call them by their first names (since 'Hitachiin-san(s)' would get confusing and annoying) so I said it was only fair if they do the same with me.

Yuzuha-san gave the three of us a moment or two to chat and introduce ourselves before checking the shining sliver watch on her wrist and ushering me back toward the door. "I'll call one of the maids to come escort you to your room and help you unpack, just wait here in the hall and she should come in a couple seconds. I've just got to talk to the boys quickly before going back to work." She said, turning back into the room. I called out before she could close the door, and she turned to look at me again, poking her head through the gap in the doorway she'd left for herself.

"U-um," I began, trying to word my request in a way that I hoped didn't sound rude; "would it be possible to have that maid be Manami-san? I met her earlier at the entrance and, well..." I trailed off, hoping she knew what I was getting at. Mana-san was a familiar face (even if it _had_ only been about half an hour) that seemed friendly, and close enough to my own age for us to hold a comfortable conversation without bothering too much about keeping up the airs and graces.

She nodded knowingly. "Will do. I'll send for Manami-san specifically."

"Thank you." I said, raising my hand in a half-wave to the twins behind her - who returned the gesture perfectly in sync with each other - as she closed the door.

I didn't have to wait long before Mana-san almost seemed to skip down the hall, a wide smile on her face as she greeted me and beckoned for me to follow her back the way she'd led me not long ago. We neared the front door and took a sharp right, chatting all the while about nothing in particular.

My room was much larger than I'd expected. On the opposite wall to the door was a large floor-to-ceiling, wall-to-wall window, and I noticed that all the furniture was mostly white, save for the black duvet and four pillows on my king size bed which all had grey floral patterns to match the curtains and light-shade. In the near left corner of the room there was a white reclining two-seater sofa made of white leather opposite a large tv sitting proudly on a white cabinet, and nearby was the door to my red-and-white themed bathroom, beside which was the walk-in wardrobe which had to be my second favourite thing about the room as a whole.

It was pretty much a short hallway with about five of the average sized wardrobes crafted into one on each side of the room going floor-to-ceiling and wall-to-wall. At the end of the hall was a floor-to-ceiling mirror with lightbulbs going up each side.

My favourite part of the room however, was the white desk attached to the large empty bookshelf in the far right corner of the room. In the space that the desk had left between the bookshelf and the window was a large, white framed pin-board which fit comfortably in the provided space. Not to mention the massive chalkboard on the other side of the wardrobe which was nailed into the wall above a white chest of six drawers. Needless to say, I was excited to make the room my own and fill up the two boards with doodles, notes and pictures**.

In what seemed to be no time at all, Mana-san and I had finished putting my things in their places and were now trying to figure out how the DVD player worked for the tv I'd been given. We _may_ have sneakily watched a movie together with our remaining time.

At dinner that night, Yuzuha-san sat opposite her son's and I. "Are you sure you want to go to school, dear? I remember Layla telling me you've mostly been home schooled so far, so if you're not comfortable going then it's no trouble to hire a tutor." She said, delicately cutting the food in front of her.

I shook my head politely as I ate, "I don't mind at all, I actually think a friend of mine goes there so it'd be nice to see her again too."

I'd gone to a public middle school before being homeschooled, so school in general was no stranger to me. However, I was excited at the thought of going to a proper private school; and - of course - the possibility of seeing Haruhi again. We still texted eachother whenever we could, and met up sometimes when we were free to go to the hospital or simply go shopping for groceries or cheap crappy movies to make fun of that night at whichever house we'd decided to sleep at.

"Well, if you say so. Hikaru and Kaoru go to Ouran too, they'll be in the same year as you so let them know if you have any troubles and I'm sure they'll be happy to give you a hand," she turned to the identical red-heads in question with a raised eyebrow, "right boys?"

They nodded vigorously between mouthfuls, barely listening but still managing to make me smile to myself in amusement. Their mother wore a smile of her own before changing the subject. She said that once we were all done here, I'd have to go back to her office so she could take my measurements for the school's uniform.

I failed to hide my grimace, and she chuckled goodheartedly. "Not a fan of it?"

I stalled by taking a long sip of the drink beside me. "Well...not that I have anything against it, but it just looks a bit...unappealing?" I explained in a way I hoped was polite, but ended up being more of a question than anything else. The pale yellow colour was nice, but I _despised_ the design with a fiery passion. The long sleeves and torso were ridiculously tight, and yet the skirt and shoulders were ridiculously poofy.

"No worries, I completely agree. That's why we've started a small partnership with the ownership of the school to design an alternative uniform that's not so likely to make the poor things look like suffocating ducks." She said, her face completely indifferent and smiley.

I choked on my drink, barely managing not to spit it out which caused the twins to do the same. Yuzuha looked proudly at the three teens in front of her who were struggling between laughing, drinking and breathing. Soon enough, she joined in too.

The next morning, I double checked my appearance in the vertical mirror hanging by the door in my room to make sure I hadn't forgotten anything important. Again, I'd decided to leave my hair down so that I had easier access to the one wavy strand of hair that was slightly shorter than the rest and framed my face nicely. Having easier access to it was necessary because I had a habit of tugging it when I was nervous or thinking.

My uniform was pretty much identical to the boys, except the blazer was better fitted and I had a black pleated skirt instead of the trousers as well as a more feminine version of their shoes. I'll admit, it didn't look half bad. It looked all bad - I'm kidding, I looked great. Moving on...

I'd taken longer than intended to get ready, so the twins had left without me; though I wasn't sure if it was because they didn't want any to be late or were just sparing ourselves what probably would have been an awkward car ride.

I had expected Ouran Academy to be a large school, obviously, since it was specifically built for rich kids; but calling _this_ a 'large school' would've definitely been an understatement. This was a massive school. I wouldn't be surprised if it's hall's alone could comfortably fit the entire population of Canada.

Leading up to the two sets of glass double doors was a gravel pathway stringing off into various different directions along the way. I could see that one such path led off to an elegant-looking garden with multiple tables and chairs, and another led off to what could've only been a maze of rose bushes. There were also dozens of sakura trees lining the path and dotting the free space left at the front of the school. Because of that, millions of petals drifted calmly along in the late-spring air. The school itself was painted a pale shade of pink which was almost therapeutic, and had a large clock tower in the main building. Very pink. Much wow.

I hoped that the halls would be empty so that I could avoid the stares from curious students wondering who was this unfamiliar face strolling into their school with a different uniform to their own?! However, having to locate my class and then walk in halfway through the lesson would probably be even worse, since there'd be no where to run and there was also a slim chance I'd be forced to introduce myself. However I failed to locate my class before it ended, and somehow managed to walk into three other random classes during my search. At one point, I think I even stumbled into the complete wrong _building_ since one of the classes was full of second years.

I sighed in exasperation as the bell chimed and students began filling the halls. So not only had my second worry come true of walking into class halfway through and embarrassing myself, but now the second had also become reality. I suppressed another sigh, causing my eye brows to twitch and my eyes to glare daggers at the useless time-table in my hands. I was about to cast the Witches' curse on it (from Macbeth?) when I felt a hand on my shoulder.

When I turned around, I was met with a pair of deep violet eyes and blonde hair. They belonged to a relatively tall second year i recognised from the class I'd just wandered into a few moments prior. Behind him was another boy with black hair and calculating grey eyes behind a paint of thin, silver-rimmed glasses of a horizontal, oval shape.

The blonde boy spoke in a flamboyant, dramatic voice which I noticed had the faintest hint of a French accent. "Greetings, princess." He said with a wink that caused me to shiver as he whipped out a white rose (seemingly from no where) that appeared to have been professionally de-thorned. "My name is Tamaki Suoh and this is my friend Kyoya Ootori, it's a pleasure to meet you." He passed me the rose and delicately kissed the back of my hand as I took it from him. I shivered again.

"I'm Marcelline Haninozuka," the eyebrows of Ootori-senpai behind him raised noticeably, "and it's nice to meet you too..." I managed to say in a way I could only hope was polite. I know there are some people that go crazy for handsome, touchy-feely strangers with accents (the small crowd of squealing female students starting to gather nearby would probably be a good example of this) but for me personally...not so much. Nothing against Suoh-senpai himself, (I mean, whatever floats your boat, ya know?) but him and husband friend weren't exactly my idea of 'dreamboats', as one of the girls kindly provided.

Deciding that I didn't want to spend the whole of second period wandering the halls again, I decided to ask for directions. "Is it alright if I ask the two of you for a favour before you head to class?" I asked, making Suoh-senpai's eyes suddenly light up as his smile expanded by at least twenty.

"Why, of course!" He exclaimed, his mood taking a complete 180 degree turn. "It's the duty of a Host such as myself to make all women happy!" He declared, bowing down slightly and producing another white rose. How does he keep summoning all these roses? Part of me thought the host thing he'd mentioned was just cover for him actually being a magician of some kind. The other part of me suspected he was actually Satan summoning demon roses that would devour my soul quicker the more he gave them to me.

I hoped my expression didn't give away my hypothesis, and I flicked my eyes over to Ootori-senpai as if to say ' _seriously?_ '. He nodded - yes, seriously - and mouthed ' _humour him_ ' which admittedly made me want to chuckle a bit. "Do you know where this classroom is?" I asked, showing them both the room number on my time-table.

Ootori-senpai nodded again, stepping forward. "Yes, some friends of ours are in that one." He explained, whipping out a notebook and tearing out a sheet of paper near the back of it which had what I could've only assumed to be a map of the school drawn on it; complete with hand drawn labels on each individual room and an accurate note with an arrow saying ' _you are here_ '.

I was slightly disturbed, but took the map regardless. "Thanks, but how did you kn-"

"It was a pleasure meeting you, Miss Haninozuka but I'f we don't get moving now we'll be late!" Suoh-senpai piped up suddenly before handing me a small white card:

* * *

 _~ Ouran Academy's Host Club ~_

 _Located in Music Room 3, West building. Come along and find the host of your dreams!_

* * *

I stopped reading after that, deciding to flick my eyes over to Ootori-senpai again to silently ask if this was legit. He nodded like before, except this time he wore a smirk that implied there was something important he wasn't telling me. "I do recommend you stop by some time soon. Who knows, maybe you'll have a fateful encounter or something?" He said, his glasses glinting in the sunlight from the windows even though it was cloudy. I honestly expected him to do one of those evil villain laughs from the movies when he was done, but he only widened his smirk and followed Suoh-senpai down the hall. I tried to shrug off his odd little statement, thinking it was just something from a script meant to try and convince girls to give up their money and free time to be entertained and flattered by a bunch of, for lack of a better term, fuckboys. However despite trying to forget about it, his words stuck with me as I whipped out my phone and took a picture of the map. This way, if my curiosity got the best of me then I could say that I'd only gone there to return it to Ootori-senpai.

I managed to arrive to my next class (english) before the teacher did, and tried my best to slip quietly into the classroom without attracting too much attention. Unfortunately, the students had seen the door opening and quietened down thinking I was the teacher. My uniform probably didn't help with with that assumption.

I listened to their confused mumbles as I speed-walked to an empty seat at the back left corner of the room. I pretended I couldn't hear them and hummed purposefully off-key while looking out the window to my left. Amongst the whispers, I heard a familiar voice call my name from my right, and I slowly turned my head to face them.

The expression of the brown haired, brown eyed boy sitting one chair away from me lit up as he smiled brightly. "No way, it _is_ you!" He exclaimed with a chuckle. I shrank back, having been taken by surprise.

"Um..." I squinted as I observed him, leaning forward to see him better behind the person sitting between us. Then, the realisation hit me like a truck and I nearly fell off my chair in shock. "You... _Haruhi_?!"

He - well, _she_ \- laughed again. "Bingo. What're you doing here, I thought you were being homeschooled?"

"Nevermind that, what happened to you?! Why are you dressed like a b-" I was cut off my hand being clasped around my mouth. I realised it belonged to the person sitting between us, and since I was looking at him properly now, I realised it was one of the twins. The one who'd falsely introduced himself to me as Hikaru? His brother was on the other side of Haruhi, also staring at me in subtle shock.

"What's that? Why's _he_ dressed like a rich kid? Ha ha, we let _him_ have it." He said with a warning look and making sure to raise a brow as he emphasised each male pronoun carefully. Then he nodded as ignoring to say ' _play along_ ' and released me.

"Why...?" I trailed off in confusion. I had multiple questions that I couldn't seem to prioritise or simply couldn't ask for threat of...blowing Haruhi's cover?

1\. Why is my female, non-trans (as far as I know) friend dressed as a boy

2\. Why do you two apparently have something to do with it

3\. Why did you give her a uniform

4\. Why did his hand smell really good-

MOVING ON.

He seemed to assume I was going to ask question three (which was good, since I knew I'd be fucked if he knew about question four) and answered it with a forced toothy grin. "What do you mean _why_? Why _not_? We're extremely nice people after all." As he said this, I noticed a few of the boys infront of us shiver which was very convincing.

Haruhi chimed in, not bothering to hide the confusion on her face. "Wait, how do you know the twins, Marcie?"

I sweatdropped and scratched the back of my neck, "Ah, well I'll tell you later." She nodded in understanding and replied in the same way when I asked her how _she_ knew them. We both huffed in frustration when the teacher walked in, still having so much that we wanted to catch up on and talk about.

While the teacher - who introduced herself to me as Atsuhishi-sensei with a nod - droned on about Shakespeare, I leaned forward again to look at Haruhi past Kaoru. The hair wasn't as much of a shock to me. I knew it was short because I'd cut it for her myself; but now it was more professionally trimmed and styled. Her grandfather's large brown glasses had also been discarded and replaced with contact lenses. Those two facts were most likely a partial reason as to why I'd failed to recognise her upon entering the room. That and the fact that, you know, she was dressed like a bOY.

I was distracted from my internal, one sided conversation by Kaoru who subtly stuck a post-it-note to my desk, out of view of Atsuhishi-sensei thanks to the tall boy sitting in front of me. ' _Like whatcha' see~?_ ' was written on it in red ink, and it clicked in my mind (after I managed to suppress a giggle) that he must have thought I'd been looking at _him_ the whole time. I flicked my eyes up to see him vigorously raising and lowering husband eyebrows while adorning a feigned suggestive pout. His wrist, propped up on the desk by his elbow, was supporting his cheek but quickly covered his mouth to stop himself from laughing as I nearly fell off my chair (again) from trying not to burst into a wheezing mess.

"Everything okay back there, Haninozuka-san?" Sensei called. I nodded slowly, not trusting myself to speak but sobering up instantly as I saw the shocked faces of the twins when I turned back around. Haruhi looked just as confused as I did, and I took that moment to decide that the three of them had a _lot_ of explaining to do. Especially when Kaoru gave me another post-it-note. ' _Come with us when this lesson ends, it's important_ '.

' _I didn't know it was possible to be confused, curious and skeptical at the same time_ ' I replied, and he chuckled before mumbling "Seriously though." and I nodded to show I understood. "Yeah, I'll come with you."

After that, the class seemed to drag on mercilessly, almost as if it was mocking me for my excitement. When the class finally ended, it was break. The twins walked ahead of Haruhi and I while she explained questions one and two from my list earlier (number four will forever be unanswered and we shall never speak of it again).

While looking for a quiet place to study on her first day, she had walked into what she had _thought_ was an abandoned music room but really turned out to be the host club's club room. The club was led by the two second years I'd met earlier, funnily enough, with Suoh-senpai being the President and Ootori-senpai as Vice President. During the process of trying to escape, Haruhi had accidentally broken an expensive vase that was going to be auctioned for eiGHT. MILLION. YEN. In my opinion, that case was just _asking_ to be broken; I mean who leaves something so expensive just _lying_ about with no protective case or anything?! Besides, it's a _vase_. You literally just fill it with water and put flowers in it, who's gonna buy it for eight million? Unless yo' mama's ashes are in that thing, it should not be so ridiculously over-priced. Anyways, I'm getting off topic. Since she was a 'commoner' who'd only gotten into the school thanks to a ascholarship, the club knew she wouldn't be able to pay them back in money, so instead decided that she'd be their errand boy. That's right, errand _boy_. She hadn't been able to afford the girls uniform, and instead wore her own clothes which (in addition to her short hair, glasses and pancake chest) made the members of the club think she was a boy. Then later on they changed their minds for some reason, deciding to give her the (boys) uniform and making her into a host. Their logic was that if she could get 100 guests to request her, then they'd let her off the debt.

She was a natural at it, but some jealous fam girl started bullying her and claiming that she tried to 'assault' her. The club's solution was to pour water on both of them and ban the others gorl from the club. With Haruhi's uniform drenched, they provided her with a female uniform since it was all they had - only to discover she was a...well, a _she_. But since she hadn't no other way of paying them back for the vase, she and the other members had decided to keep her real gender a secret so she could keep hosting. Also, for some crude reason, her quota had been raised to 1000 since it wasn't apparently her fault they'd lost a customer.

All that went down in just two days. I sighed as my mind struggled to comprehend it all, barely understanding. I patted her shoulder in reassurance. "So that's how you know those two, then." I said, sending half-hearted glares at the back of the twins' heads. She nodded with a sigh of her own. I could tell how stressed the situation had made her just by how she recalled it to me. She was out of breath by the time she'd finished.

"Yeah, what about you?" She asked, looking at me from the corner of her eye as we followed the brothers across a roofed-bridge into another building. They slowed their paces to earwig, apparently having not been told the reason themselves.

I would've lowered my voice, but I decided that they technically _did_ have a right to know since I was living in their house and would be now for god-knows how long.

"I mentioned before that my mother was sick, right? Well a couple weeks ago she took a turn for the worse and had to go to the hospital. We had to dismiss a lot of our staff in order to pay for the medical bills, and after a while she got worried about me being on my own all the time and decided it would be best for me to live somewhere else until she was better. She called up an old school friend who agreed to let me stay with her as long as I needed, provided that I helped out with her work when she needed me to." I explained non-chalantly, recalling the events as I described them and fiddling with the slip of paper Yuzuha-san had given me.

Haruhi's eyebrows were furrowed, and she held my hand as we walked, squeezing it reassuringly. She didn't say anything, and I didn't expect her to. The pair of USB's ha had always been hopeless when it came to reassurance; either not knowing how to react or simply saying the complete wrong thing. I caught sight of the twins exchanging glances of sympathy and pity, but decided not to acknowledge it. They still thought they were sneakily earwigging, after all.

The four of us turned a corner into a seemingly abandoned hallway and approached a pair of double doors with a sign at one side that read ' _Music Room 3_ ', which I recognised from the card I'd received from Suoh. I'd decided to drop the 'senpai' honourific after deciding he didn't deserve it for blackmailing Haruhi. Petty, I know.

When we walked in, there were multiple delivery men and women each carrying boxes that varied in size and quantity but the company's name for all of them was the same. I spotted Kyoya in the centre of the room signing multiple sheets in multiple spots on multiple clip-boards. Again, his glasses glinted from the non-existent sun light when he saw me and he adorned a prideful smirk as he nodded to me in greeting. For what must've been around the third time that day, I shivered.

"What's all this stuff?" Haruhi asked, scrunching up her nose as she cautiously stepped around a pile of boxes that had air-holes and were making animal noises.

Suoh abandoned the delivery woman he'd been chatting up to strut over and wag a finger in her face with a wink. " _That's_ a surprise."

She swatted his hand away distastefully with a blank face as she looked away from him. "And _that's_ creepy." She mocked, causing him to get impaled with a red arrow from the heavens labelled ' _creepy_ ', and he almost seemed to deflate as he shrank down and crawled over to the far corner of the room.

"Uhh...does he always do that?" I pointed to him, fidgeting uncomfortably from being unsure whether I was supposed to call someone.

The twins, Haruhi, Ootori-senpai, two other boys I had yet to be introduced to and even some of the delivery people - including the woman Suoh had been flirting with - all looked over at me with blank faces as a synchronised ' _yes_ ' chorused around the room in a dead-pan tone; I wasn't sure if that was supposed to be reassuring or not, but I suppose it kind of was..

Everyone else went back to what they were doing, but one of the boys I hadn't met let his gaze shamefully linger on me with narrowed eyes in an observing kind of way; like he knew me from somewhere but couldn't remember where. I would've felt uncomfortable hand I not done the exact same thing due to feeling the exact same way.

"You recognise him or something?" The twins inquired, popping up on either side of me to each drape an arm around my shoulder and make me jump. They spoke in a nonchalant, ' _no biggie_ ' tone, but something in their eyes made me think they were more interested than they were letting on and reminded me of the feeling I'd had earlier during my encounter with Suoh and Ootori-senpai - like there was something they weren't telling me or something I was missing.

"I feel like I should, but..." I trailed off, not knowing how to end my sentence. Desperate to know, I looked over at the boy again who had now stopped staring and resumed eating jianyun cake on the other side of the room. He had blonde hair that was slightly spiked in some places, and large brown eyes which reminded me of melting chocolate. He was ridiculously small; as in small enough for me to almost assume he was an escapee from Ouran's nearby middle school. In contrast to the boy who sat beside him, he appeared to be even _smaller_. The tall boy had a blank yet well-formed face with grey eyes and black spikey hair. He would've seemed menacing if not for how he looked at the childish blonde beside him. It was the kind of look that held a sweet kind of brotherly affection-

Brotherly...

Clogs turned rapidly in my head as fog cleared and puzzle pieces clicked into place. I wanted to kick myself. How had I been so stupid? I didn't need to Ben introduced to the smaller boy, as I already knew him. His name was Mitskuni Haninozuka, and he was my brother.

A subtle smile overtook his features as he seemed to catch on to my recognition. He patted the arm of the other boy, catching his attention to pass him his cake. He then got up from his seat, walking to the door and gesturing excitedly for me to follow him.

* * *

 _And they fill the open air_

 _And leave tear drops everywhere,_

 _You'd think me rude but I would just stand and stare_

* * *

 **I know I mentioned this in the original but I just wasn't happy with the first few chapters and the guilt of pretty much stealing someone else's idea in chapter 3 never really left me so I wanted to redo it. There were also some things in the plot that I wanted to change (as you can tell), for example, how it took like 11 chapters for Marcie to figure out that Honey was her brother since I know a lot of you were triggered about that. And I decided to change it from Marcie being a model and living with her boss to just being a normal teen living with her mum's friend. I'm aware that I said you shouldn't read the origional; however, there's always a possibility of some Marcie x Kaoru moments in there that I'll have to abandon in this version, so if you want to hunt for those then you can. Anyways, I hope you'll all join me on a rewrite of the ride we've already partially been on!**

 **If you happen to spot any spelling errors or grammar mistakes then please let me know in the reviews so I can fix them!**

 **Until next time~ ^3^**

* * *

*I know, I know, this description is kind of all over the place, but I had to get it done sooner or later so \\_(ッ)_/

**I'd like to apologise for my apparent inability to do descriptions; be it of a character or a fUCKING ROOM


	2. (2) Happy To See You

**You can probably tell, but I am very hyped to rewrite this. Like, really excited. Probably a lil too much. I'm sorry if the back story seems a bit confusing, I'll try and find a way to make it a bit easier to understand in future chapters.**

* * *

 **Chapter 2 : Happy to See You**

 _Someone in the crowd could be the one you need to know,_

 _the one who finally lifts you off the ground_

 _Marcelline POV_

A subtle smile overtook his features as he seemed to catch on to my recognition. He patted the arm of the other boy, catching his attention to pass him his cake. He then got up from his seat, walking to the door and gesturing excitedly for me to follow him. I walked over, still not one hundred percent sure how to feel.

I ignored the confused looks we received from the other hosts as we left the room and closed the door behind us. He hugged me immediately, his little head only coming up to my stomach. "I can't believe it's really you! What are you doing here?" He cried happily, clearly not as nervous as I was which motivated me to try and calm down.

I sighed at his question, kneeling down to hug him more comfortably before giving him the same explanation I'd given Haruhi earlier. Once he knew that I needed a place to live, I saw his eyes light up and then dim almost instantly. I guessed he was going to say I could live with him and our uncle, in the dojo, but we both knew that wasn't possible. Before our mother's illness had gotten worse, she sent Mitskuni to live with her brother after Shouto - our stepfather - tried forcing him to take up the family business and then an engagement with a business partner's daughter, both of which he turned down. In response, Shouto wouldn't let us visit each other, and whenever he tried to call, he was hung up on immediately. We'd tried ditching classes to meet up somewhere but eventually got caught and I was forced to be home-schooled. Shouto's justification for doing this was: ' _If he doesn't want to be part of the business, how can he expect to be part of the family?_ '.

If our Mum wasn't too weak from her illness to work, she would've divorced him years ago. We only kept him around for his money, and he loved blackmailing us with that fact. ' _Without my generosity, your mother and sister would both be dead; so you had better be careful and well behaved from now on, understood?_ ' That's what he told me the day he found out Mitskuni wasn't coming back.

"Well we _could_ just _happen_ to bump into eachother at the hospital..." I suggested casually, as if I was trying to sneakily slip someone an answer sheet in a math test.

He chuckled and whipped out his phone. "Yeah, that sounds pretty likely." He hesitated with a small fidget before holding his phone up to me and wagging it. "Do you think it would also be possible for us to accidentally trade phone numbers? You know, just so we can avoid those types of coincidences."

I took the phone from his hand with a wide smile. "Whoopsies." I deadpanned, typing my number in and saving it in contacts.

"My bad." He said blankly, doing the same with my phone when I passed it to him and only causing us both to laugh more.

It was still a bit awkward, but I suppose that was to be expected since we hadn't seen eachother for nearly seven and a half years. However, we were desperate to keep talking and promised to try and text eachother at least once every night, even if it was something completely random.

After spending another ten minutes or so chatting between awkward silences, we decided to go back in. His hand paused for second on the door handle, as he slowly turned to look at me with a sheepish grin. "Ya know, I almost didn't recognise you. You've really grown up."

"Yeah," I put a hand on my head and dragged it to hover over his and show off how much taller I was than my big brother; "I'd say 'you too' but I don't really know about that 'grown up' part." I said, giggling at my own joke as he shoved me playfully.

"That was awful." He said, face palming in mock disappointment.

"Maybe, but you still laughed." I chuckled proudly to myself with a triumphant grin.

He shook his head and pushed the door open, both of us walking in with large, childish smiles. I sat with him and his tall friend (after being introduced) eating cake and sipping tea for the rest of break; briefly explaining our situation to the other hosts when they'd sat down on the opposite sofa to us with confused and curious expressions that basically said ' _gimme answers_ '.

I was still buzzing with excitement when break ended and found myself unable to sit still without fiddling with something or fidgeting in the rest of our lessons. I barely managed to contain my yell of relief when the final bell rang signaling school was over. When the four of us got back to the Host Club, the others were already in their...' _Balinese Royalty_ ' cosplay. While the twins rushed to get into their own blue flannel shorts and bandanas, Haruhi and I stood by the door refusing to believe that this was the same room we'd walked into just a few hours earlier. The delivery boxes that had been littered around the room at break were now gone, and instead the whole room was decorated like a rainforest, complete with real trees, rare flowers and exotic animals.

 _Haruhi POV_

As the other hosts got into poses and chorused a peaceful ' _Welcome, Princesses!'_ to the guests slowly flooding in, a small, strange bird landed on my head and Marcie's eyes sparkled as she slowly attempted to stroke it. The bird squawked at her, making her jump after flying away. She sulked and pouted, her eyes watering up in a way that would have been comedic if not for how she then directed her puppy eyes over to _me_ as if she was a toddler who'd dropped her ice cream and I was her mother who'd have to buy her a new one cuz my dead-beat husband is probably sitting around on his lazy-ass at home or getting shwifty with some hOE FROM THE OFFICE- I'm getting too into this.

I put a hand on Marcie's shoulder reassuringly. "Uh...there there..."

The twins glided over, radiating roses and sparkles (possibly because they were literally chucking rose petals and glitter around the room as if they were flower girls at a wedding). "C'mon Haruhi, what are you just standing around for? Get hosting already."

I ignored them and instead pulled out a relatively small calendar, squinting at today's date. "I could be wrong, but I think it's still early spring...?"

Tamaki-senpai appeared at my side with a ' _poof!_ '. "Huddling up under a kotatsu table and fearing the cold is nonsense! And besides, the heating system we have here is - _the best_ ~." He declared, putting emphasis on 'the best' as if him simply saying so made it true.

Kyoya-senpai pushed his glasses up with his free hand (the other held an open laptop) , causing them to glint in the sunlight. "Do you have a problem with the way we run our club, Haruhi? Careful what you say, you do owe us eight million yen after all."

Marcie shuddered from where she stood beside me. "I don't like that one..." she whispered. I scoffed in reply;

"Trust me, you get used to it surprisingly fast." I whispered back before we were both caught off guard by Tamaki-senpai who wrapped an arm around each of our shoulders.

"Anyway, a gentleman must not bundle up in bulky clothing. It may well be chilly early spring out there, but here at the club we want to surprise our frosty little kittens with a warm, tropical paradise~." Tamaki-senpai continued, striking a pose supposedly fitting for his 'princely character'. I tilted my head, sharing a blank glance with Marcie as we let out a simple, yet explanatory ' _ugh_ '.

 _Marcelline POV_

I walked around the unnecessarily large music room carrying trays of tea and slices of cake to guests after deciding that sitting patiently in a corner somewhere and waiting for activities to finish was boring. I wanted to make myself useful and be able to see what was actually going on without looking shady or suspicious, so doing that little errand was pretty much two birds with one stone.

While refilling drinks for a few of Suoh's guests, I _overheard_ (here meaning ' _earwigged_ ') some interesting information that the club would be sponsoring a party the following week for seemingly no reason. "A party...?" I mumbled aloud in thought, nodding a polite goodbye before moving on to the twins' table only to find their conversation topic to be the same.

The girls were chattering excitedly and asking questions such as "What kind of party is it going to be?" and 'Will it be formal?". It took me a while to figure out which twin was speaking, but I eventually made a confident guess that it was Hikaru who answered them. "Yes, we decided that a formal theme would be more suitable. We managed to rent the school's largest hall and everything!"

"It _is_ the perfect place for dancing, after all." His brother added, glancing suggestively to each of the girls opposite them who squealed and swooned in reply for a reason I must've missed.

"But you know," Hikaru piped up again in a husky voice, gently grabbing his younger twin's chin and tilting it upward toward him, "I _really_ wanted to spend some alone time with you, Kaoru~"

In response, Kaoru leaned into his touch and brought up one of his hands to rest against Hikaru's shoulder. "Don't be upset Hikaru, I know how you feel..." He said in a wistful tone that sent another ripple of screeches through their audience and a shiver up my spine that made me want to puke. It was almost impossible to believe these were the same polite, friendly and witty boys I'd met yesterday. But, they and their guests seemed to be enjoying themselves, and they weren't hurting anyone or anything (minus their pride) so each to their own, I guess.

"The guests seem to be even more worked up than they usually are." Haruhi said, appearing with Ootori-senpai at my side.

"Showing some skin has always proved more effective with the ladies." He replied, pushing up his glasses and not looking at either of us as he tapped away on his laptop. I couldn't help feeling curious on what he was actually doing on there to be on it all the time, but there was some kind of unnamable feeling that told me I wouldn't have wanted to know.

"I take it you're the one who came up with this whole 'tropical paradise' idea, Kyoya-senpai?" Haruhi inquired, raising a brow in accusation.

"Nonsense," he began. His tone made it one-hundred percent impossible to tell whether or not he was being sarcastic, and I struggled to guess between the two. "I have no right as the club's Vice President to make such decisions..." He took a break from furiously tapping on the keyboard to push up his glasses for roughly the eighth time that day, again managing to catch the sun on his lenses through cloudy skies. "But I suppose there's no harm in admitting to casually slipping a Bali photo book onto his desk."

Haruhi and I shivered. So he's the _real_ brains of the operation. She was then called back to her table not long after by some guests, and I moved on to the next host's table which was Honey and Mori's. The pair weren't there yet, and I ended up getting politely interrogated by their guests.

"Not to be rude," one began, "but who are you? I don't remember ever seeing you around the school."

Trying my best to make a good impression, I bowed my head slightly to each of them (there were two) in turn. "My name is Marcelline Haninozuka. I'm in class 1-A with Haruhi and the twins, but it's my first day today which is probably why you haven't seen me before."

"What brings you to Ouran's Host Club?" I laughed nervously at her question. How exactly was I supposed to answer that? If I told them I was living with the twins, I'd probably get hunted down by their swarm of crazy fangirls; same goes for telling them I was a friend of Haruhi's from middle school. Saying I was Honey's sister was probably my safest option in terms of not getting bullied or gossiped about, but if word ever got back to our step-father about it then I don't know what he'd do...

But wait...wasn't it kind of obvious that I was his sister? I _just_ said my name, didn't they notice we have the same surname? I was saved from my internal thought-jumble when Honey himself ran over with his arms outstretched like a plane while giggling and smiling cheerfully. "Ta-daaaa!" He called, skidding to a halt and standing next to me with Mori not far behind him. He was holding...a pineapple...and none of the guests seemed to think anything of it, simply greeting him excitedly.

"Oh, you're sooo cute, Honey!" One of the guests gushed as the other squealed and fanned themselves while our taller cousin patted his head and made me smile.

"Hi, ladies!" He said, and I swear I could see a tail wagging happily on his lower back with pointed ears on his head. "I love these Balinese flowers, we had them flown in!" Then he caught sight of Mori-senpai and I behind him. He whipped out a lei of exotic red flowers that matched his own and bounded over, climbing mori like a rock wall. Then he slipped the lei over his head with a triumphant smile before wrapping his arms around his neck lovingly. "There, we match!" He cheered, causing one of the guests to swoon. She had long, brown hair tied back in a ponytail with a white ribbon*, and she put the back of her hand against her forehead as she went down while her blonde, curly-haired friend called out to her.

"Aaah! Miss Tsubakiin**!" She cried.

Honey chuckled, and placed another lei over my head with a subtle wink that went unnoticed by the guests. "You too, imouto-chan!" He said, smiling widely. It wasn't fair. He was too cute. I nearly cried. Okay, I might've accidentally cried a little bit.

"Imouto-chan?" Tsubaki-san's friend echoed, helping her to sit up.

I must've been wearing a kind of worried expression, because Honey sent me an reassuring nod before smiling at the other blonde. "Yup! Marcie-chan is my little sister!" He confirmed, and I almost chuckled at catching a few sighs of relief from the girls opposite us.

"How come you and Haruhi aren't wearing tropical cosplay like the other hosts, Marcelline-san?" Tsubaki-san asked once she'd fully regained consciousness.

"Oh, well none of the hosts really knew I'd be coming so they didn't have time to prepare anything for me." I explained, deciding to leave out that I probably wouldn't have worn whatever they gave me, anyway. "And as for Haruhi," I added, sending a glance in the brunette's direction, "sh-...uh, _he_ normally prepares to wear stuff that's appropriate for the season. Early spring attire in early spring, you know?" I coughed, internally kicking myself for nearly letting her gender slip. Replacing the female pronouns with male ones would _definitely_ take some getting used to.

"Wow, you just met today and already you seem to know so much about him~?" Tsubaki-san's friend inquired, giving me a knowing look.

I chuckled and waved a hand in the air as if to say 'no, no, no!'. "It's not like that, it's just that before being homeschooled I went to a public middle school and happened to meet Haruhi there."

"Ah, I see." She replied, but still had the same look on her face like she was saying ' _you loooovvve him~_ '. Even though wasn't true, I was much happier being gently teased instead of accused or bullied, which I was sure most of Haruhi's fangirls would do once they heard that information. Presumably to save me from any more questions, Honey passed me another lei, but with pale blue flowers instead of red ones.

"That's one's for Haru-chan. Can you give it to her please?" He asked, tossing it to me childishly with another subtle wink.

"Okay! Thanks, Honey." I said, smiling gratefully and returning his wink behind my hand. I stretched as I got up and walked over to Haruhi's table where I stood behind her and dropped the garland over her head while looking out the window and whistling innocently. She looked over at me with an eyebrow raised in a questioning look. "Sorry, Honey asked me to and I couldn't help myself. He's just too _cute_." I gushed, scratching the back of my neck sheepishly.

She rolled her eyes with a smile, adjusting it on her shoulders. "Fine, fine."

Two of her guests - a girl with long black hair and thick lipstick that didn't suit her and a girl with short, bobbed ginger hair and a diamond pin holding back her bangs - looked me over suspiciously. "Are you two dating or something?".

We paused.

We stared.

We blinked.

We laughed hysterically, leaning against eachother for support. Haruhi was the first to regain her posture and correct their suspicions. "No, it's nothing like that. We just went to the same middle school and happened to become friends." The first two still looked doubtful but let out sighs of relief all the same, meanwhile the other two - one with light, chestnut curls and glasses and another with long dark brown hair styled into two little horns - giggled and whispered among themselves.

We chatted with them happily until I heard a voice pop up from behind me, making me jump a little. "Excuse me." The feminine voice said politely, and I apologised as I turned around, taking a cautious step back for the girl with short brown hair to step past me. She stood with a suggestive (in my opinion, anyway) smile on her face and her hands clasped delicately together infront of her. "I don't mean to disturb, but I believe it's time for the hosts to switch clients." The four guests seemed disappointed and grumbled reluctantly as they got up. I helped them gather their things and picked up their used dishes while setting down new sets of everything and earwigging on their conversation.

"Oh, right. Sorry, you must be my next appointment, Miss...?"

"Kanako. Kanako Kasugazaki***..." She paused, going a few steps closer than what was probably necessary and putting a hand under her chin, tilting it toward her. "You know, you're a lot cuter than than the rumours give you credit for..." I saw Haruhi twitch uncomfortably with a face that said ' _and what's_ that _supposed to mean?_ ', but she stayed quiet. "I've decided. From now on, you're going to be my new favourite host, Haruhi." Kasugazaki-san said in a way that made me wonder if that's how it was done in a Host Club. Did the guests just have to give the host of their choice some kind of weird marriage proposal?

* * *

Once club ended and all the guests had given us their farewells (and money) we all took the last ten minutes or so to rest. However, Suoh sat on the floor with his knees to his chest in the near left corner (when facing the door). I assumed it was his designated spot for sulking or being - for lack of a better term - petty, since right now he was staring at us and furiously slurping a cheap brand of cheap ramen while releasing barely audible grumbles.

"Hey boss, why don't you stop eating that Commoner's Ramen and come help with the party planning?" Hikaru whined, and I quietly chuckled to myself at how he said 'Commoner's Ramen' as if it was the name of the brand.

"Does it really bother you so much that Princess Kasuga has taken a liking to Haruhi?" Kaoru added, sitting down next to his brother with me and the rest of the hosts at a long table to one side of the room by some windows.

"He shouldn't be surprised, she's had the disease for a while now." Ootori-senpai said in a matter-of-fact tone while not looking up from his laptop. Haruhi and I exchanged a glance.

"Illness?" I repeated, and Honey gave me a look that I couldn't identify.

"It's called The Host Hopping Disease." He answered before the twins appeared on either side of Haruhi and I.

"A.K.A. The Never-The-Same-Boy-Twice Disease." They added in unison.

"Our guests usually tend to choose a favourite host and request them regularly, however Princess Kasugazaki tends to change her favourites on a regular basis." Ootori-senpai explained, taking a break from typing to subtly wriggle his fingers and make me struggle to hold back another laugh. Something about seeing the sophisticated and serious second year wear such an indifferent expression while wiggling his fingers like a child was incredibly amusing.

"That's right! Cuz before she chose you, Haru-chan, she was with Tama-chan!" Honey added, finishing off a slice of cake from earlier.

Haruhi leaned back in her chair with an expression flooded with amusement and realisation. "Ohhhhhh...so he's upset because I took her from him?" She said, looking over to me with a raised brow.

"What's the big deal, doesn't he have tons of other guests?" I shrugged, looking back to Ootori-senpai and then nearly falling off my chair in shock when Suoh popped up behind us, slamming his hands on the table.

"SHUT UP, I COULDN'T CARE LESS!"

"Clearly." I said, earning myself a nudge under the table from Ootori that I'm assuming meant ' _Just humour him_ ' while Suoh was off in the back room somewhere, his yelling was barely audible through the wall.

"I'M LOSING MY PATIENCE!" He called out, accompanied by noises of rummaging. "HARUHI, IT'S TIME YOU STARTED DRESSING LIKE A GIRL!" He then emerged in the doorway, struggling to push a large chest across the floor. "I don't understand how you can be so popular with the ladies when you're a lady yourself!" His voice was more strained, and I noticed Ootori-senpai wince everytime the chest squeaked from being dragged against the floor. "No one in the whole school knows the truth except for us!"

"Yeah, all the attendance numbers are mixed together so no one can tell any different." Hikaru began.

"And she opted out of taking gym classes, too." Kaoru finished.

My features were overtaken by admiration and envy. "What, they let you opt out just like that?!" Haruhi nodded smugly with a grin, knowing how much I'd always hated that particular lesson. I'd also tried to get out of PE (Physical Education, that's what we call it in Britain anyway) but my request was denied since the amount of girls was currently odd, and they couldn't do group exercises unless there was an even number of students it 'wouldn't be be fair'. You can probably tell, but I'm still feeling pretty salty about it.

Suoh finally managed to drag the chest to the middle of the room, flipped the lid open and leaned in, reaching for something inside. "Now you listen to daddy, Haruhi." He took out a large, gold-framed photo of Haruhi from middle school and slammed it on the floor. "DADDY WANTS YOU TO GO BACK TO THE WAY YOU WEERRREEEE!"

"DON'T GO BLOWING UP MY PHOTOS WITHOUT ASKING ME FIRST!" She yelled at him in reply, attempting to give him a whack which he barely managed to dodge before handing the picture up on a nearby wall.

"Aw, your dad still had that picture?" I gushed, recognising it as one I'd taken for her in middle school.

"Of course he did, it's a good picture. Why, do you not have it?" Haruhi asked, turning to me.

"Course I do, it's a good picture." The other hosts gathered around it and stared in disbelief, wondering what could have possibly happened and 'how _this_ became _that_ '.

"The day before school started, one of the kids in my neighbourhood accidentally got some gum in my hair." Haruhi began answering their silent questions as I felt myself start to sweat.

"Yup, those...darn kids...ha...ha ha..." I said in a way that was not suspicious in any way, shape or form. She sent me a subtle glare with narrowed eyebrows that I looked away from, scratching the back of my neck and smiling guiltily. I mean, not guiltily. Non-guiltily? What's the opposite of guiltily?! Because whatever it is, tHAT'S WHAT I AM, I ASSURE YOU-

"It's a real pain getting gum out of long hair, so I got a friend to cut it off for me." Haruhi explained, sending me another sideways glance which I also avoided. "I didn't care if I looked like a dude, ya know?"

Suoh screeched as if someone had stabbed him thirty seven times in the liver while she was talking, yelling something about how a girl shouldn't refer to herself as a dude. But then he literally started crying to ' _Mama_ ', who we later established to be Ootori. I decided to drop his honourifics, too...

The twin at my side nudged me gently with his elbow. "How's your dancing experience?" By his soft tone and movements, I assumed it was Kaoru.

"Does it matter? I don't remember saying I'd go to this party?" I said jokingly, raising a brow. But seriously, no offense to them but I didn't want to go. Parties weren't really my thing. Especially the classy kind, the music was always annoyingly soothing and made me tired.

He smiled sheepishly, taking out his phone and showing me a text conversation. "Yeahhhh, about that...I kinda already texted our Mum and said the club was sponsoring a party and she kinda already thought it would be a good time to advertise for her company by making you a dress."

I looked at him, now with a mixture of disbelief and admiration. "You absolute fiend."

He chuckled. "Sorry, but Haruhi and Honey-senpai would probably be more at ease with you there, right?" I rolled my eyes at his attempt to convince me.

"Sure, sure."

"THAT'S RIGHT!" Suoh yelled out suddenly making Kaoru and I jump, realising that we hadn't been paying attention to the last minute or so if the conversation. "If you wanna stay in the Host Club that badly, Haruhi, you'll have to show us how far you're willing to go!"

"When did this turn into the Yakuza club?" I mumbled, causing Kaoru to stifle a laugh with the back of his hand, barely managing to get away with turning it into a cough which only made _me_ start to laugh.

"-you must learn the waltz within one week!" Suoh dramatically finished his speech with a hand in the air and his legs crossed in his seat. At catching the last bit of his sentence, I quickly clasped my hands over my mouth to stop myself from bursting out into laughter again after remembering that it had taken a _month_ for me and my sister to teach Haruhi the basics of the funky chicken. The brunette noticed my struggle and glared down at me (since I'd doubled over from laughing).

"You better not be thinking about-"

"Ohhhh, but I am." I interrupted her between wheezes.

Learning the waltz in a week would be impossible for her without help.

* * *

 _Someone in the crowd could take you where you wanna go_

 _If you're the someone ready to be found_

* * *

 **In the origional, I normally made each chapter around 3,500 words, but the first chapter here was just over 7,000 so I thought 'fuck it' and now I won't post any chapters until they're over at least 5,000.**

 **...**

 **Pray for me;;**

 **My school had a ton of snow days recently which I'm glad about since it meant I had more time to work on this without worrying about homework +_+**

 **If you happen to spot any spelling errors or grammar mistakes then please let me know in the reviews so I can fix them!**

 **Until next time~ ^3^**

* * *

*I know the two girls in these scene are the other way around in the manga but I just liked this girl better because she reminds me of Monika from Doki Doki Literature club and since Monika is and always will be my favourite (unpopular opinion, I know) I decided to switch them.

**I'm not 100% certain, but Noragami taught me that adding 'in' to the end of a person's name is a type of honorific or endearment so I'm assuming the Monika-look-a-like's name is actually Tsubaki. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

***THAT'S RIGHT. THIS WONT BE A REPEAT OF LAST TIME WHEN I COULDN'T BE BOTHERED TO GOOGLE HER NAME AND ENDED UP CALLING HER KONEKO *WHATS-HER-FACE* OR KONEKO *TEA-CUP FETISH*. I'm still really sorry about that by the way.


	3. (3) Dancing Lessons

**Voltron season 5 jdkdidkcjskdiskxidkxidjdjxjdi TrIgGeReD there were only six episodes skxiskixskixeiid I won't bring up spoilers because I'm not an inconsiderate jackass but akciskixskckskckj**

 **Also, I uploaded the previous chapter at like 2am and I didn't even realise until after I asked my friend to do a spell check on it for me and she was like what are you doing it's 2am.**

 **Anyways-**

* * *

 **Chapter 3: Dancing Lessons**

 _I feel fate breathing down my neck,_

 _If the road I'm on somehow leads me nowhere,_

 _No retreats men, no regrets._

 _Marcelline POV_

Learning the waltz in a week would be impossible for her without help.

After all of that was said and done, the club said their goodbyes to each other (and me) and parted ways for the day. Honey and I exchanged an awkward yet eager nod as we got into our separate cars, resulting in the twins teasing me for most of the drive home about how I 'aweady mished my big bwuther~!' It was almost more funny than annoying, I'll give them that. _Almost_.

They were called to their mother's office before we'd even walked through the door, and since Mana-san was no where to be found, I decided to take matters into my own hands and look around my new temporary home. This was, of course, a terrible idea; because despite having the time of my life at first by sneaking around and pretending I was in some kind of spy film, I'd ended up going up six flights of stairs and coming down four, finding seven different bathrooms, two libraries, an indoor-pool and had fallen over twice. I'd also nearly broken a vase on one of the many podium's littered around, but managed to catch it. Or rather, the floor did, and I was grateful to whatever god don was looking out for me that the damn thing didn't break. All that in under twenty minutes. I was on a _roll_.

I was now in a room with no furniture and a large, floor-to-ceiling, wall-to-wall window opposite the door with blank white walls either side. The floor was also clean and made of varnished wood so it was slightly cold and slippery which probably would have bothered me if I wasn't wearing socks that let me slide across the floor. It was as if the entire house was some kind of elaborate Mary Poppin's bag, and instead of summoning tall lamps and tape measures, there were just random rooms popping up everywhere. There was an unnecessarily massive private cinema in here somewhere, I shit you not. It had snack bars, vending machines and so on. I'd have to make a map of this place at some point to find it again, though.

Through the window in front of me was an over view of the back garden with the sun setting slowly, half-visible behind the tall, grey-bricked garden wall. A calm, warm glow settled over the expensive flowers and plants in a way that made me wish I'd been better at art in middle school. I could picture drawing the image flawlessly in my head but I knew it would be a disaster on paper.

Instead, I took off my blazer and folded it on the floor as a kind of cushion for me to sit on, close up against the window and snapping quick pictures on my phone that I set a mental note to print off later when I got the chance. I was useless at drawing, but photography had always been a hobby. Deciding I'd taken enough, I fiddled with my blazer pocket to pull out a pair of white earphones and selected 'shuffle' on my music app, subtly hoping for anything by Paramore but not being disappointed when I heard the beginning instrumental for Into The Sun by The Parlor Mob.

I wasn't sure how much time passed before I felt one of the ear buds being gently tugged away from me and a presence by the side of my head and behind me. "D'you come here to rock out or what?" A voice teased. I jolted away with a loud shriek and flailing arms while whipping my head around to face my 'ruthless attacker'. "Kaoru?!" I guessed, yelling in half-relief and half-anger. "How long've you been there?!"

I was met with a smug grin and suppressed chuckle. "Long enough. What're you doing up here on you own, anyway?"

"Everyone was busy so I thought I'd go exploring, is that alright?" I replied apologetically, taking out my other earbud and hoping my decision hadn't come off as rude.

He laughed again and waved a hand at me dismissively as if to say 'no worries'. "It's alright, dinner's ready though so I offered to come get you."

That instantly made me feel slightly guilty, since even _I_ didn't know where I was so it must've been a pain in the ass to find me. "Sorry," I said taking the hand he offered to pull me up and picking up my blazer as I went. "how long were you looking?"

He looked like he was about to pull the 'no worries' move again, but he suddenly laughed nervously and scratched his cheek gently with one finger. "Actually, I uh...I have no idea."

I let out a small chuckle of my own as we left the room and started to walk down the hallway, presumably headed for the dining room. "What was that room for, anyway?" I asked quickening my pace to walk next to him.

He hummed in thought before shrugging. "To be honest, no clue. Probably a dance studio or something." I managed to suppress a a laugh at the thought of him and his brother prancing about in that room like pretty little ballerinas in frilly tu-tu's. I also found it some what amusing that there were apparently so many random rooms in this house that not even the owners knew what all of them were for.

I then remembered that he'd said he was sent to get me because it was 'time for dinner', and decided to break the sudden (and slightly awkward) silence by using it as a conversation starter, as much as I hated small talk. "So, what're we having? For dinner, I mean."

"Well it's your first time eating with us here so we'll probably have some kind of subtle celebration by having a ton of pizza."

I smiled in approval. Sounds like my kind of celebration. "Will there be pineapple pizza?"

He stopped walking suddenly and whipped around to stare at me with his jaw dropped and a look in his eyes as if he'd witnessed me commiting some kind of unspoken forbidden sin. " _What_ did you just say?!"

"Uh...will there be...pineapple pi-"

" _No_." He hissed, leaning towards me slightly. " _No_ , there will _not_."*

I nodded in understanding, feeling unsure if he was joking, slightly afraid and almost tempted to never eat pineapple pizza again. Almost.

His demeanour suddenly changed, and the nervous air previously surrounding him had returned. "I don't mean to pry or sound rude or anything, but what brought you to live with us?"

I was expecting one of the two boys to start asking questions sooner or later, but I was still caught off guard. That didn't change the fact that I was a random stranger who was now living with them for an unknown amount of time and for an unknown reason, and they therefore deserved the truth. Maybe not the full truth just yet, but answers nonetheless.

"Our mother's went to school together, and mine is pretty sick right now so your mum's looking after me while she's in the hospital."

He seemed to pick up on the fact that this was as good a time as any to ask any other questions he had. "Earlier, when you and Honey-senpai were saying goodbye to eachother, he said something about 'Michelle'?. Is she another family friend or something?" I thought back to the moment he was referring to back at school.

* * *

 _"I know mother only recently went to the hospital, but what about Michelle? Is she showing any signs of improvement like the doctor said?" Honey's face didn't change, but I felt my own brows crease together in consolation for him. He hadn't seen her for four years, now._

 _I gave him a sad grin and shook my head. "Not recently."_

 _His small, hesitant smile faltered slightly and I desperately fought the urge to hug him, knowing it was neither the time, nor the place, as his driver was probably watching and would be suspicious. We'd already agreed to meet at the hospital to visit mum after school the next day where I would then sneak him in to see our sister ten minutes or so before visiting times were over._

 _In the mean time, I placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it gently. "I'll text you." I said. Then, I sent a smile and a nod over to Mori-senpai before allowing the confused twins to lead me to their car._

* * *

"Michelle is my twin sister." I said, slowly. "She's in the hospital too...three years now, I think?" It was true that normally we wouldn't have been able to keep her room in the hospital for that long, but that's just another reason on the list for why mother kept Shouto around.

I looked over at the the boy next to me who looked like there were still many more questions he wanted to ask - and rightly so - but was unsure of how to word them without potentially upsetting or offending me. So, to spare him the struggle, I decided to take a wild guess at what one of them might be. "She suffered a brain injury when we were about twelve and she's been in a coma ever since." I explained. I made sure to keep my words slow and clear, keeping my gaze glued to the floor as we walked. "I try to visit her at least twice a week and take notes on everything important that happens so that when she wakes up, she doesn't feel left behind."

I could hear his shock and probably would have laughed if the circumstances were different. "I know what you're thinking and _no_ ; I summarise everything so that it's not a whole novel. I take pictures I think she'd like too, since she loved photography..." I grimaced, internally kicking myself. "She _loves_ photography." I corrected, and Kaoru didn't dare question me.

I felt bad, realising I was probably making him feel awkward. "I'm sorry, I didn't-" Before I could continue, however, he suddenly stopped in his tracks for a second time, taking a deep breath before turning on his heel to face me and wrap his arms around me hesitantly in a tight hug.

"Don't ever feel like you have to apologise. When ever you want to talk about her, you can, alright? You can tell me as much as you're ready to tell and I'll listen. I promise." I felt my previously calm demeanour begin to crumble down and closed my eyes, letting my head droop down to rest my forehead on his shoulder in a futile attempt to keep it together.

A few silent, stray tears rolled down my cheek but I wore a small smile to spite them. "You remind me of her, a bit." I said, quietly.

I could almost hear the smirk on his face as much as the mischief in his tone. Though it was clear the nervousness still remained, I was grateful to him for trying to humour me, at least. "Oh? Then she must be incredibly beautiful and charming~?"

I chuckled and gently flicked his back as I wrapped my arms around it. "Slow your roll, I didn't mean it like that."

"We're identical twins, like you and Hikaru, except she always liked to curl her hair more and her eyes are slightly different; though nobody else really seems to think so." Haruhi always used to say that our eyes were how she told us apart, with mine seeming to be more light and icy, Michelle's were a deep and calming shade, much like the ocean. "She had a habit of randomly popping up out of no where to scare the crap out of me sometimes too." I added bluntly, flicking his back again in referral to a few minutes prior. My small smile widened as I remembered all the times I'd thought I was alone when it turned out Michelle had been there the whole time, lying in wait to spring up at the moment I least expected, usually yelling out something random, resulting in me getting scared and falling over or bumping into something.

"Sorry, but did she ever get you as good as _that_?!" He laughed shamelessly, clearly not feeling sorry at all.

I raised a brow and lifted my head along with my left hand, causing him to reluctantly release me from the hug as I brought it around to show him the large diagonal scar across my palm. "Yes, actually." Despite the fact that we were no longer touching, he still stood fairly closer to me than what was probably necessary, but somehow it didn't make me feel uncomfortable or nervous in the slightest. If anything, the sudden absence of his body heat made me feel almost _cold_ ; even though it was still spring time.

His eyebrows shot up in surprise when he saw the scar. "How did _that_ happen?!"

"It was our mum's birthday and we wanted to make her a cake even though we had absolutely no idea how. Michelle told me to go get ingredients in the kitchen while she googled a recipe, but she crept along behind me the whole way and made me jump when I was getting out a bowl." I explained, laughing at the memory.

He laughed along with me, wincing slightly as I assumed he was imagining it. "I'm guessing it didn't end well?"

I shook my head with a smile, running a finger over the mark as we started to walk again. "Nope." We were silent for a moment before I found myself letting out a content sigh. "Thank you."

He raised a brow, looking back at me over his shoulder. "For what? I didn't do anything."

"You listened. There aren't a lot of people who do that, so thank you."

He smiled back at me and softly shook his head, slowing down to walk next to me again. "My pleasure."

* * *

 _Third Person POV_

It was during club hours in the 'elite' (here meaning 'snobby') school, Ouran Academy. Despite the club being occupied, today was one of the rare days when it _wasn't_ open for business. Instead, the six hosts and...whatever Marcelline was, sat in random places around the room watching a seventh host get dancing lessons from a guest. The guest being, of course, Kanako Kasugazaki.

Her dance partner (Haruhi) was doing quite well, although her expression suggested she was confused, struggling and probably had no idea what she was doing. Kasugazaki spoke calmly and gave Haruhi a few tips as they waltzed. "Quick, quick, slow; quick, quick, slow. Very good, just put your legs together at the pause and make sure you actually _look_ at the lady you're dancing with." She said, laughing delicately in a way that sounded like someone was lightly shaking a small bell. The noise was a bit - for lack of a better term - odd, and Marcie was unsure if she found it pleasant or annoying.

"U-uh, right." Haruhi responded mere seconds before treading on her partners foot and falling over, dragging the other girl down with her. Marcie snorted in an attempt to hide her laughter at their position, with Haruhi blushing furiously on top of Kasugazaki, whereas the latter didn't seem to mind at all. She actually seemed to be enjoying herself, pulling Haruhi closer to her with a smile after she apologised.

Meanwhile Mori and Honey twirled around the room, Kyoya typed away on his laptop at a nearby table with Marcie rotating between surfing the net on her phone and watching the dancers, Tamaki sat on a window seat sulking and the twins were sitting on their own table making fun of him. "Tamaki's acting pretty blue..." Hikaru said in a way that _would've_ been sympathetic if not for the mischievous grin on his face.

"I bet he wanted to be the one to teach Haruhi how to dance. It can't really be helped though, since he's too tall to stand in for a girl." Kaoru added, mirroring his brothers expression. "How come we didn't just get Marcie to teach her instead of Miss Kasuga?"

"That's a good point." Hikaru replied, twisting around to call over to the blonde in question sitting behind them. "Can you even _do_ the waltz, Marcie?"

She slouched back in her seat, sighing in thought. "Well, yeah. But I guess I _am_ kinda rusty..."

"Hear that, Tamaki? Marcie still needs to learn~?" The twins cooed, sending Cheshire-like smirks to the boy who then sent hopeful puppy's eyes in her direction. She flicked her eyes up from her phone again to give them all a half-hearted glare.

"No."

Tamaki then retreated over to his emo-area in the near corner of the room to face the wall and sulk again.

"But you _have_ to learn-!"

"-The party's tomorrow!" The twins objected in turn, each with a brow raised and a small pout. She rolled her eyes at them and put her phone down on the table, crossing her legs..

"I'm only going because your mum told me to and Ootori-senpai said he'd take a couple thousand yen off of Haruhi's debt if I chatted to the guests who aren't dancing to keep them entertained and stuff." She stated, folding her arms with a huff. "I probably won't even _need_ to dance."

"I'll dance with you, Imouto-chan**!" Honey piped up from beside her where he and Mori had stopped dancing to take a break. Marcie's formerly stern features melted into a dorky grin and her eyes sparkled with new motivation as she rubbed her hands together. "That's good enough for me! Who's gonna be my teacher?"

Tamaki emerged from his emo-corner in preparation to snap into host mode and make an offer, though he was almost immediately (and quite roughly) shoved aside by the twins who raised their hands eagerly. "We'll do it!" They chorused with matching smirks, before they were also pushed out of the way by Honey-senpai despite the innocent expression he was wearing.

"I will!" He chirped, causing Marcie to laugh and pat his head in confirmation that she agreed. No one dared to say it to his face, but the small third year had become quite protective of his newly found sister in what was barely a day of knowing her again. It was in a comfortable position between scary and cute that somehow made it okay.

 _Marcelline POV_

Ootori-senpai (who the twins were now insisting I called by his first name because anything else 'just didn't sound right') beckoned me over to where he was standing next to Miss Kasugazaki who was now taking a break from dancing lessons to have tea. I picked up on Kyoya-senpai's gesture for me to also bring over the nearby tray of various china tea-cups that were actually a lot heavier than I thought they would be.

Haruhi was standing beside him as I got to them, catching the last bit of their conversation before intercepting. "I heard the host club wasn't taking any guests in order for you to practice for the party tomorrow, Haruhi-kun. I'm glad I got to spend this time with you today." Miss Kasugazaki smiled up at the other brunette in a way that made me feel kinda...uncomfortable.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, Miss Kasugazaki," total lie, "but what cup would you prefer to have your tea in?" I asked with a tone I could only hope was as pleasant as the smile I was forcing. I don't know what it wasn't about her, but this girl kind of freaked me out for some reason. Especially when she silently looked over each cup on the tray after returning my smile, internally debating which teacup to pick as if the fate of the universe was in her hands. She eyed up a green one in particular that had a gold ring around it a few centimetres from the top.

"This is a new tea-set, isn't it? Ginori, I think." She said, absentmindedly to presumably no one in particular. I'm telling you, there's something weird about this girl. It's almost like her voice reminded me of someone from an anime I used to watch about a girl whose friend could turn into a scythe***. I was distracted from my weird conspiracy theory by the sudden ache springing to life in my arms. Seriously, the little cups were a lot heavier than they should have been for something of their size. A lot like Honey, actually. I don't know how Mori-senpai does it but I am _impressed_.

Miss Kasugazaki ended up choosing the previously mentioned 'ginori' and complementing it's colour to which Kyoya-senpai gave some brainy explanation for before Haruhi spoke, leaning against the chair next to her. "You must like table-ware a lot to know so much about it, Miss Kasugazaki?" She implied, causing the girl's shoulder's to jolt in shock as she nearly choked on her tea from flailing her arms out in front of her in denial.

"W-what? N-no! Of course not, ha ha! Goodness me, what makes you say such a thing like _that_ , Haruhi-kun?!" She babbled, failing at her attempt to hide how flustered she had become. Haruhi had clearly hit the nail on the head, so why would Miss Kasugazaki lie?

Before I could think up my own elaborate conspiracy theory on why Kanako Kasugazaki would hide her secret and _possibly_ unrequited love for tea-cups, a boy in the Ouran Academy uniform walked in holding a large, heavy looking box with a familiar logo on the side. The box was big enough for him to have to hold it with both hands, leaving me to wonder how the hell he managed to open the door. "Hello? I'm here with the new tea sets you ordered?" He called, walking a bit further into the room to meet Kyoya-senpai who came over to sign some papers on the clipboard balanced on the box. Other people wearing delivery uniforms matching the logo on the boxes followed through the doorway behind him with, believe it or not, more boxes.

Haruhi was beckoned over and told to take the one from the boy while he talked to the slightly taller second-year; meanwhile Miss Kasugazaki was listening intently to their conversation, although since I was standing on the opposite side of the table from her, I couldn't hear them as well as she apparently could until she piped up suddenly with a seemingly fake laugh that admittedly made me jump. "Haruhi, you're so funny! After all, he doesn't look like the heir to the Suzushima Trading Company."

"Heir?" Haruhi and I echoed as I walked over to the trio, causing Kyoya-senpai to tell us more information that he somehow miraculously already knew. I barely listened to what he was saying though, since I noticed that Suzushima was staring wide-eyed at Miss Kasugazaki who was now sitting quietly with her back to us again, as if he'd only just realised she was there.

"-so whenever something sensational comes in, we ask him to send it our way. That's why we trust your eye for these kinds of things." I heard Kyoya-senpai say as he finished what he was saying and turned back to Suzushima who was still looking at the nearby bobbed brunette. Seriously dude, read the atmosphere maybe?

Suzushima laughed nervously and scratched the back of his neck. "Thanks, but I think I've still got a long way to go." He replied, modestly.

"You're studying in England next year, right?" Kyoya-senpai spoke, flicking his eyes up to the brunette as he finished his last signature with a tap and put the pen back in his pocket. As Suzushima agreed with a hum and a nod, I noticed Miss Kasugazaki's shoulders tense up noticeably while the hand holding her teacup shook as she brought it to her lips, watching Suzushima wave his goodbyes to the hosts before leaving the room with the other delivery guys.

Haruhi, Kyoya-senpai and I made our way back to Miss Kasugazaki's table, with him whipping out his laptop, me leaning against one of the chairs and Haruhi gently putting the box down while looking curiously at the other girl as if she thought there was something she was hiding. There probably was, actually. "You seem pretty close with that guy, Miss Kasugazaki?" Haruhi implied, giving me an insanely intense feeling of deja-vu that was only intensified when the guest jolted in shock and flailed her arms in denial again like earlier; although instead of choking on her tea like before she spat it out everywhere in a panic as if it was hot, even though she'd stalled long enough for it to surely be cold.

"W-what?! N-no, I've never seen that boy before in my whole life! Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be on my way now..." She babbled, blushing furiously and slowly backing out of the room before slipping out of the door and letting her scurrying footsteps echo down the hall.

The hosts and I watched her go in confusion before Honey suddenly leapt up and latched on to my back. "Guess what, Imouto-chan? They do know each other! Suzushima-kun is Miss Kasuga's fiancé!" He called, causing me to turn my head and look at him. I _knew_ she was hiding something!

The rest of us (excluding Kyoya-senpai and Mori-senpai) made expressions that showed our shock, however Suoh looked incredibly offended when he tapped on his classmates back to drag his attention away from his laptop. "How come you're not surprised, Kyoya?! How long have you known about this?!" He whined, pouting when Kyoya-senpai swatted his hand away with an irritated expression.

"About the engagement? Since the beginning, of course. It's only natural for me to conduct general research on all our guests." He replied, pushing up his glasses. "The two of them were childhood friends and the arrangement was made by their parents. I just didn't think that the information was all that important so I didn't say anything." If I didn't know any better by now, I would have said that his tone was smug; however it appeared to be impossible for him to come off any other way.

"W-...why, you...!" Suoh hissed, gritting his teeth and clenching his fists in a way that seemed more like envy than anger.

"Suzushima Toru; good grades, fair social status, average looks and reliability as a strong point." Kyoya-senpai continued, pretending not to have heard his blonde friend as the twins appeared on either side of him.

"He doesn't have much presence-" Hikaru began, raising his arm as if waiting to ask a question in class.

"-and he's faint-hearted." Kaoru added, mirroring his brother's actions with a similar blank expression.

"In other words, he's boring. That's about it." Kyoya-senpai finished, finally looking up from his laptop and snapping it shut with a satisfying _clack_.

"They're kinda merciless towards other guys, huh?" Haruhi whispered wearily after nudging me with her elbow gently to get my attention. I nodded in agreement, suddenly feeling a bit chilly.

"Suzushima-kun is a good boy, right?" Honey piped up, wriggling from my back onto Mori-senpai's after my limbs started to ache under the weight. He nodded blankly in response.

Suddenly, Suoh took a dramatic step forward revealing a large white board behind him with various scribbles that were barely readable, meaning they were either written in a hurried burst of inspiration or he just had awful hand writing. It was more likely that the answer was a mix of both. "Okay, men! Let's go over our strategy!" He declared, striking a pose and weilding the white board pen like a mighty sword.

"Which one?" The twins chorused, standing with the remaining hosts clustered around the magic whiteboard as Haruhi and I stayed put, slightly amused at how none of them even bothered to question where the white board had come from. Suoh ignored them, rambling on about Host Club morals and how it was their self-proclaimed 'duty' to make every girl happy; guest or not.

It was quite inspiring, actually.

* * *

 _Out of the darkness,_

 _And into the light of love,_

 _Though for now, it seems this struggle has only begun._

* * *

 _~ Into The Sun - The Parlor Mob_

* * *

 **I forgot to put the song names and artists for the last two chapters (whoops) so here you go.**

 **(Chapter 1) ~ Fireflies - Owl City**

 **(Chapter 2) ~ Someone In the Crowd - Dodie Clark**

 **I'm kinda going back and forth between the manga and anime but I'll just roll with it for the time being.**

 **I had to google Kanako's name again because I forgot it since last chapter ;-; seriously, why couldn't her name have been something easy to remember like Kanako Bacon or Kanako Coconut?**

 **If you happen to spot any spelling errors or grammar mistakes then please let me know in the reviews so I can fix them!**

 **Until next time~ ^3^**

* * *

*Pineapples do _not -_ repeat - do _NOT_ go on pizza. Fight me.

**I'm like 99.9% certain that Imouto-chan means little sister, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

***Still low key triggered that Soul and Maka weren't endgame.


	4. (4) Party Time

**Going back to more plot stuff now; the story is finally starting to make progress :0 I don't want to babble on for too long but I just want to say a quick thank you for all the follows and favourites, it means a lot ^_^**

 **I also want to say thanks to my friend Lily for reviewing and reading and not judging me too harshly XD**

* * *

 **Chapter 4: Party Time (/-.-)/**

 _It's not what, good girls do_

 _Not how they should behave,_

 _My head gets so confused, hard to obey_

 _Marcelline POV_

"To all the little lambs who have gathered here with us tonight, the Ouran Host Club would like to bid you...welcome~" Suoh called out from where he posed on the balcony in full Host Mode™, visibly struggling to hide his giddiness when the dressed up guests applauded him with cheers of awe as spotlights flickered to life in order to illuminate various parts of the large room. A few of the guests even seemed to have brought dates with them, which admittedly surprised me. No offence to them, of course.

The lights brightened to more effectively illuminate the room, and an orchestra started to play a soft melody off to the side. "We invite you to enjoy yourselves to your heart's content; and as always, my fellow Hosts and I are here for your entertainment, so you may dance as much as you please." Suoh continued, tugging slightly on his jacket for a more dramatic effect.

Kyoya-senpai, who wasn't tapping away on a laptop or scribbling away in a notebook for once, pushed up his glasses as he added his own input. "The princess who is deemed the best dancer will receive a kiss on the cheek from our very own King, as a reward." He informed, causing another eruption of applause and squeals that were a lot more intense than the first ones.

"Good luck to you all, my princesses~" Suoh piped up again, adding a small, subtle wink this time. Seriously, I was standing next to Haruhi on the lower level of the balcony, therefore nowhere near the blonde second-year, and yet I could still undeniably smell the roses that were radiating off of him as he pranced around and drove all the fangirls insane, I swear I even saw one of them faint!

The twins glided over to stand behind us, and as they spoke I realised that it was easier telling them apart when I couldn't see their faces, since their voices were noticeably different. "You two need to show more enthusiasm." They whined, each putting a hand one of our shoulders with a pout.

"The only parties I've ever been to were the festivals held at my neighbourhood park." Haruhi confessed, lifting a hand to her chin in thought. I recalled the few times I'd been invited along for one of those festivals, and compared them to the garden and house parties that Shoto had dragged Michelle and I to as kids, sweat dropping slightly.

"I don't think they count."

"Well you're here now, so you may as well enjoy the food. We've prepared quite the spread." Kyoya-senpai said, coming down the stairs to pick up his laptop on the nearby table. I rolled my eyes, thinking I should've known he wouldn't have come without it.

"...A spread?" Haruhi echoed, suddenly interested in the conversation. "With...fancy tuna?" She added absentmindedly, squinting to see the hall better as she scanned her surroundings for any signs of something edible. I sighed and patted her back as Suoh popped up infront of her and the twins shrieked.

"FANCY TUNA?!"

Now she's done it.

After about five minutes of trying to pry the twins off of her and Suoh yelling at people to order 'fancy tuna', the party was officially started. The hosts danced with guests while I made about four attempts to get to the rumoured 'spread', however I kept getting interrupted by girls asking where I'd gotten my dress which was, of course, made by Yuzuha-san. The gown was a soft yet shiny deep green material in a halter-dress style with a long, sweeping skirt that dragged behind me slightly. Just long enough to look cool as I walked but not long enough to be an inconvenience, which was greatly appreciated. I never thought any shade of green was a good colour on me, but with talent like Yuzuha-san's, it seemed impossible for anything to look bad on anyone. She'd even styled my hair in a plaited bun with various rose-gold pins in the shape of flowers with small gemstones that were the same shade of green as the dress.

I'd had to bring a small, flip-style notebook and pen with me to write down the names and phone numbers of guests which I would then put into a folder on a memory stick I'd been provided with by Yuzuha-san, just to make things easier for her when she transferred them onto her laptop to add them to a waiting list. It was also a good conversation starter to 'chat with guests' like Kyoya-senpai had suggested and ultimately help Haruhi out too.

By the time I finally made it to the buffet table on the far side of the room (why, god? _Why_ couldn't it have just been by the door where I came in?!) only the disappointing scraps remained. I stood there for a bit in an aura of gloom while using cocktail sticks from a small box to stab at and pick out grapes from the unnecessarily large and seemingly untouched bowl of fruit salad. I nearly choked when I was suddenly tapped on the shoulder, having to quickly cover my mouth so I didn't yell out in surprise and spew food everywhere.

I turned slowly to see one of the twins standing there, looking apologetic and slightly concerned. But he was mostly laughing. The bastard. That's how I knew it was Kaoru, because even though I'd only known them for a little more than a week, I'd been able to decipher that their voices were different (duh), Kaoru's hair was parted to the left (when facing them) whereas Hikaru's was to the right, and Kaoru had more of a conscience. He looked worried while he laughed, and Hikaru would probably have just plain laughed. Maybe smacked my back, if I was lucky.

I let out a sigh to calmed down, glaring at him as he wiped away imaginary tears of laughter. "You know, I believe there are plenty of other ways to get my attention without giving me a _heart attack_." I mumbled, scowling in defeat as he dodged my attempt to jab him in the ribs for revenge.

"You have a point, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." He said in a total 'not-sorry at all' kind of way, effortlessly dodging a few more jabs and even managing to catch my hand and twirl me around until my scowl melted away into laughter that matched his own.

"What do you want, anyway? Or did you just see an opportunity to scare me again?" I asked, only slightly dizzy but holding onto his hand anyway to keep steady.

"Oh! I was just gonna ask you to dance. I thought more people would want the dress if they saw it in action, right?" He replied, shooting me a beaming smile so bright I felt like I was staring at the sun and almost had the urge to cover my eyes. But he did have a point, so I took his free hand as he held it out to me and nodded politely.

"Okay, but I like this song so please don't ruin it."

"I would, but I have a feeling you'd smack me."

"...I'm not denying that I wouldn't."

As we danced, we kept alternating between chatting, purposefully treading on the other's foot to try and make them fall over, or just dancing in a comfortable silence. I was mostly trying to subtly look around the room at any guests watching in order to make a mental note to talk to them later and advertise. Along with the memory stick, notepad and dress itself, I'd also been provided with a few small business cards to give out just in case. Having been focused on that, it meant I wasn't sure just how long Kaoru had been thoughtfully staring at me before I actually noticed it in my peripheral vision.

"...What is it?" I asked hesitantly, somewhat unsure of whether I wanted to hear the answer or not considering how intensely he'd been looking. Was there something on my face? Was my dancing a lot rustier than I thought it was? Maybe I should have have taken them up on their offer of a practice lesson, after all. I suddenly felt my stomach twist into a knot of self consciousness, and I nudged him subtly to get his attention. He blinked and shook his head gently with a slightly confused expression; a signal he'd returned from whatever planet he went off to.

"Ah, nothing. Sorry." He said, smiling sheepishly. I reluctantly dismissed it with a slow nod, taking the opportunity of the broken silence to ask why the twin wasn't with his...well, twin.

"How come you're not with Hikaru?"

Aaand off he went again. I think he had _intended_ to reply, but had simply gotten lost in thought again about his answer. "Helloooo?" I said, taking my hand off of his shoulder for a moment to wave my hand in his face.

For the second time, he snapped out of it and apologised; except when I expected him to ask me to repeat the question, he fidgeted and laughed awkwardly as if I'd caught him off guard and he was stalling for an answer. Was it that weird for me to wonder where his brother was? Or maybe something had happened and they'd gotten into a fight...? I highly doubt that, actually.

"I _am_ Hikaru. Sorry did you think I was Kaoru this whole time?" He said, still doing that weird laugh.

I rolled my eyes so far back I thought I'd be able to see my brain. "Bullshit, you're Kaoru. I know 'cause of your voices and how you part your hair." I replied bluntly, deciding to leave it at that because saying he was noticeably nicer than his brother might end up offending him since I'd be calling out a distinct difference between two people who prided themselves on their similarities, as well as inadvertently saying his brother wasn't as nice as he could be, to put it lightly.

Not that he was a bad person or that I didn't like him, I just thought Hikaru had a bit of a harder time showing what he was thinking and how he felt in a way that didn't make him seem so... _cold_.

Kaoru tilted his head at me with a mischievous smirk as if he didn't know what I was talking about. "The way we part our hair, huh?"

I nodded. "Like curtains. So, why aren't you with him?"

He shrugged and looked off somewhere in the distance. "He's dancing with guests." He said, plainly.

"Shouldn't you be doing that too, though?"

"I wanted a break."

I looked down at myself, then back up at him. "This is a break?"

"Well, I was originally headed for the food table until I spotted you and your, uh..." He trailed off, looking over to the table and spotting my deserted cocktail sticks. "Your grapes."

"Yeah, well. That 'impressive spread' Kyoya-senpai described is long gone." I said wistfully as if I wasn't mourning the dead. "I really wanted to try some of those canapés, too."

He laughed an innocent laugh and gave me a wink. "I'll see what I can do."

I raised a brow, about to ask what schemes he was plotting when Hikaru suddenly appeared at our side, spinning a guest. "Miss Kasuga's here, it's time to put the plan into action!" He hissed before disappearing back into the crowd again. Kaoru looked at me with an excited smile and jerked his head in the direction of one of the many doors on the side of the hall; a signal to go.

"C'mon, let's get there before everyone else does." He whispered, starting to subtly tug me towards the door while we waltzed. I returned his smile and followed his pace, eventually turning it into a race between us instead of the other hosts, like he'd originally intended.

Since he was scrawny and athletic (and, not to mention, _not_ in high heels and a dress), Kaoru won and had no trouble shoving it in my face immediately. Honey and Hikaru were next to arrive, and the former bounded over excitedly before leaping into my open arms. "You look super great, Imouto-chan!" He cheered with a big, happy grin and small cake crumbs around his mouth. Evidence he'd managed to wriggle his way to the food table before I could.

Even so, my weakness for cuteness was at its absolute weakest state. "So do you, Onii-chan! Really cute!"

Mori-senpai strolled in, blank faced, with a confused Haruhi wriggling on his shoulder. He put her down with a pat of her head, and came over to Honey and me while the twins instantly seized Haruhi again. She let out muffled yells of protest as she was shoved into the dressing room that the twins had been setting up, and I heard her sigh from inside.

"Kyo-chan did say having an accident towards the end of the night would make things more fun!" Honey explained after seeing me struggle between deciding to try and help her or laugh.

"Remember, Haruhi. You have twenty minutes until the party ends, we've already called Suzushima to the adjoining classroom." Haruhi emerged from the small, curtained room just as Kyoya-senpai finished speaking and I couldn't help feeling impressed at how cute she looked as well as how quick she'd been. She was grabbed by the twins _again_ just as quickly, however, and was pulled onto a chair where the twins then started applying makeup to her with a flawless air of expertise that made me think they must have had a lot of practice.

"Well this is Tamaki's strategy, so there's bound to be an accident either way." Hikaru noted as the blonde boy himself entered the room in a dramatic pose.

"What're you guys doing, hauling up in here? Who's looking after our guests?!" He proclaimed, waving his hands around like an angry businessman. Shouldn't he know why we're all in here, though? Hikaru _just_ said that it was Suoh's strategy. Although, knowing him, he probably forgot it already. He cut himself off from anymore confused lecturing with a gasp as the twins proudly yelled 'done!' and Haruhi stood up with a wobble before turning around.

Suoh turned an odd colour that supposedly resembled red, but I don't think that particular shade had been discovered until then. For now I'll call it the 'Haru's a Cutie' colour (HaC for short, which is very...flattering).

She hobbled off down the hallway like a drunken sailor, mumbling her complaints about how her face felt heavy and her feet hurt from not being used to the heels. I watched her go, waving like a proud mother before the twins each tapped one of my shoulders and beckoned for me to follow them to a different room. There was a black leather sofa with a coffee table infront of it that was covered in cliché movie snacks like popcorn and sweets, with large bottles of fizzy drinks and small glasses. On the opposite wall was a large TV that Hikaru seemed to already have the remote for in his pocket, as he whipped it out like it was the winning prize on a game show before tapping some buttons that lit up the screen.

"What's all this?" I asked, plopping down in the space they'd left for me between them and picking up a glass with a bottle of coke*.

"We set up a hidden camera in the classroom Haruhi and Suzushima are in so we can watch what happens." Hikaru replied while he and his brother each sent me identical smug grins as they took their selection of snacks which were actually surprisingly different in spite their whole 'we're exactly the same!1!' gig.

For example, Hikaru had a bag of sour skittles and crispy M&M's, while Kaoru had a bowl of marshmallows and was occasionally taking a handful from my bag of salty popcorn. Salty is Superior, dear lord amen.

The three of us watched the screen intensely, occasionally yelling at it as if we were watching a regular show despite knowing the 'characters' still couldn't hear us. Well, in this case, maybe they could if we shouted loud enough. They were just down the hall, after all.

Suzushima stood by the window, staring out at the sky and turning slightly as Haruhi waddled in. I felt a small smile overtake my features, again seeing how cute she really was. "You...did you write this letter?" Suzushima asked, holding up an envelope with a few dorky hearts drawn in a bulky pink felt-tip.

I glanced over at each of the twins with a raised brow. "She wrote a letter?"

They shook their heads, "No, us and Kyoya did!" They said, grinning smugly and full of pride. I began to sweat, thinking about the chaotic impossibilities that could very well become possible when people like those three put their heads together. However, it would be a lie if I said the idea of the mischievous Hitachiin Twins and the super serious Kyoya Otori writing a dorky love confession to the year 2, class C boy they'd called 'boring' and 'plain' just yesterday.

"A letter?" Haruhi asked, equally as confused as I'd been. Suzushima nodded and handed her the envelope, giving her a few seconds to read through it. Her eyes scanned the note before she also began to sweat, her eyebrow twitching in annoyance. What the hell did those three even write?

"Have we met before?" Suzushima suddenly asked, making Haruhi jump. She put her hands out infront of her as if in surrender, saying this was the first time she'd ever really spoken to him which I guess wasn't a _total_ lie, but y'know. "I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I can't accept your feelings..." He said, and she stood up a little bit straighter to listen.

"Damn..." Hikaru whistled and raised his eyebrows slightly. "Harsh much?"

"I know, right?" Kaoru added, wincing in sympathy for her. "Way to make it easy on her, man."

"REJECTED!" I yelled, throwing a small handful of popcorn at the screen.

"I already have another girl who is dear to me..." Suzushima continued.

"I didn't realise you had a girlfriend." Haruhi replied sheepishly.

"Well...actually, she's not my girlfriend. In fact, I think she's completely over me." He explained, sadness infecting his features and causing his gaze to sink from the window to the floor. "Besides, I think she'd be better off with someone who's more smart and good looking than I am..." He added with a sigh.

"Wow, looks like someone has some self esteem issues." Hikaru mumbled, and I sweatdropped slightly. Does he seriously not remember all the stuff he said the other day?

"I don't see what you mean**, this is clearly narcissism at it's finest." Kaoru said, earning himself a chuckle from his brother. I rolled my eyes at the pair of them.

"Yeah, because you two know all about narcissism, right?" I teased. Kaoru let out a noise like a wounded animal and sent me a look of mock-hurt with a hand on his heart, while Hikaru elbowed me playfully with another laugh before our focus wandered back to the screen; though it was obvious we'd already missed stuff.

"That's why I wanted a change, to see the world! I want to become a better person. And I know it's selfish, but...I wonder if she'll wait for me..." He admitted wistfully. Everything went silent, including the three of us, for a brief and thoughtful moment before-

"Yeah, that _is_ pretty selfish of you." Haruhi said, summoning a large red arrow from the heavens that stabbed Suzushima in the chest. I mean...nooo...that's not what happened at all***...

We yelled things like "HARUHI YOU ABSOLUTE DINGUS!", "SHE RUINED THE MOMENT!" and "GET IT TOGETHER, HARUHI!" while each throwing pretty much all the rest of my popcorn at the screen. It was a waste, but it was worth it. Well, not really but it made me feel a bit better. Kinda.

When we looked back to the screen, we immediately froze upon seeing Miss Kasugazaki trembling in the doorway. We couldn't make out what she was saying on the monitor since she was being so quiet, but it was clear from her expression that she'd misunderstood the sight of Haruhi and Suzushima standing before her. Tears rolled down her cheeks before she bolted out of the room, and we could faintly hear the sound of her shoes against the floor echoing down the hallway.

Suzushima's eyes widened in shock and horror as he was quick to follow after her, leaving Haruhi (And Suoh, from wherever he popped up) alone in the classroom. Haruhi's brows were furrowed, and she crossed her arms in thought. "I think we just made things worse."

"Maybe," he replied, "but he _did_ go chasing after her."

The twins each stood up and stretched before Kaoru tapped me on the shoulder. "Welp, time to go." I looked up at them, confused. I was even more confused when they each picked up a banana from the fruit bowl in the middle of the table. Why pick fruit when there's all these sweets and snacks right in front of us? Well, I suppose they've got to stay their lanky and fit selves somehow.

"Go where?"

They winked with mischievous grins that gave me a foreboding kind of feeling before each taking one of my hands and pulling me up. "To the main event, of course!" They chorused before dragging me back out into the main room and then onto the balcony with the other hosts along with a cascade of guests who were clearly excited.

Suoh stepped forward as I noticed two people running along the empty space below. ...Miss Kasugazaki and Suzushima? He caught her wrist before she could get any further away, forcing her to turn and face him. The whole time, Suoh had been talking and then dramatically pointed his finger as a spotlight fell on the pair beneath us.

"The last dance of the night has been awarded to this couple!" He said, and they looked up with expressions reflecting mixed, unreadable emotions. Suddenly, Suzushima held out his hand to her with a bow. She took a cautious step back, and for a moment I thought she was going to run away again until the boy looked up at her, still bowing down.

"Princess Kasuga. Can I have this dance?"

Before he'd even finished speaking, her fears had melted into a smile and she looked like she was about to cry from happiness. "Yes." She whispered, barely loud enough for me to hear from where I was standing. She took his hand, and they danced as music started to play.

"May this awkward couple be ever blessed!" Suoh declared, throwing his arms out dramatically and causing me to duck. Honey sent me a smug grin that would have been out of character for him if not for his innocent giggle. Had he been the average height for his age, he would have been in danger of getting whacked as well.

"Looks like being small has it's benefits after all, huh?" He whispered, and I stifled a laugh as I stepped back next to Haruhi and out of Suoh's arm range.

"And now we'll announce the queen of the ball!" Hikaru began.

"Congratulations, Princess Kanako Kasugazaki!" Kaoru finished.

I narrowed my eyebrows in thought with a pout and a hum. I could have sworn they were holding those banana peels from earlier just a second ago, but they were gone now...? Did I imagine it, then? "Haruhi will be standing in for Tamaki in the Kiss-On-The-Cheek Reward!" Kaoru added, and I quickly put my hands over my mouth to suppress another burst of laughter. Meanwhile Haruhi, Suoh and Miss Kasugazaki looked mortified.

Suoh slowly turned to the twins who were already fully prepared in their 'we're innocent!' poses. "Kyoya did say that an accident towards the end of the night would make the evening more exciting for everyone!"

"There's no way I can kiss her." Haruhi grumbled, and as much as I'd _like_ to say I comforted her...I didn't. I was laughing to hard to move. Kyoya pushed up his glasses and somehow managed to get them to glint on the sunlight like normal even though it was EVENING.

"If you do it, we'll cut your debt by one third."

And before I knew it, she was already halfway down the stairs. I doubled over with laughter, holding my side with one hand and the railing with my other as I slowly sank lower to the floor.

"Hey, you don't think this is Haru-chan's first kiss, do you?" Honey asked, turning to me from where he was now perched on Mori-senpai's shoulder's.

I slowed my breathing to calm my laughter and think. "Uh, yeah actually. I think it is-" I barely managed to finish my sentence before Suoh clamped his hands over his ears with a shriek and launched himself down the stairs after her.

So that's where the banana peels went.

He slipped on them, sliding across the floor and pushing Haruhi just as she was leaning in, making her loose her balance and accidentally peck the girl on the lips instead. They hopped back in embarrassment, each covering their mouths with a blush as the fangirls - I mean - as the _guests_ went insane on the balconies and I was practically inches rolled around on the floor in a fit of wheezes and giggles.

Later that night, I had just finished changing out of and hanging up my dress, getting ready to settle down and watch a movie on the TV in my room (probably Les Miserables with Hugh Jackman, because I do love me some Hugh Jackman every now and then) while transferring all the data from my notebook onto the memory stick. Suddenly, I heard a hesitant, gentle knock on my door. Wriggling out of my cocoon of blankets, I slipped on the dressing gown hanging on the back of the door before opening it to see Mana-san, who was standing sheepishly in the hall with a large tray and a friendly grin.

"Sorry Marcie-san, I didn't wake you did I?" She said politely.

"Not at all! Is there something wrong?" I asked. She shook her head with a smile, holding the tray out to me. Whatever was on it was covered with tin-foil (presumably to keep it warm) so I couldn't see it, but there was a hand-written note balanced carefully on top of it. Eyeing it suspiciously, I thanked Mana-san and took the tray from her, wishing her a good night as she closed my door again. Sitting down on my bed, I curiously picked up the note and read it over.

 _I remember you saying you wanted these, so I got the cooks to make some for you. Thank me later ;)_

 _\- Kao_

I smiled to myself as I lifted up the tin-foil and remembered what the younger twin had said to me earlier that day. _He laughed an innocent laugh and gave me a wink. "I'll see what I can do."_ It was a bunch of Canapés _._ I chuckled a little as I picked one up. Not exactly the ideal movie food, but I appreciated the gesture as well as the perfect timing.

Looks like he was the nicer twin, after all.

* * *

 _It felt so wrong, it felt so right_

 _Don't mean I'm in love tonight_

 _I kissed a girl, and I liked it_

* * *

 _~ I Kissed a Girl - Katy Perry_

* * *

 **That super origional and unpredictable song choice tho. Also when I was reading through the version of this from my original fic to get into the mood, I'd included the bit where Kanako asks Haruhi to dance (I haven't here, couldn't be assed because I personally don't like Kanako Coconut very much) but I noticed a spelling mistake so it's like "would you like to dance, Haruhu?"** **HARUHU.** **HAROOHOO. WHAT IS SHE, AN OWL?**

 **That is all.**

 **If you happen to spot any spelling errors or grammar mistakes then please let me know in the reviews so I can fix them!**

 **Until next time~ ^3^**

* * *

*Please tell me I'm not the only one who prefers normal Coca-Cola over Diet Coke. It's just not the same T^T

**THAT'S CUZ YOURE NOT THINKING CREATIVELY (i SeE a SiLlY fAcE)

***That's not what happened at all :( Yuri wouldn't even take my poem seriously :(((


	5. (5) A Long Awaited Visit

**Much love for all the follows and favourites, especially Lily and Diamond Rose-413 for your reviews, thanks you two, it's always fun to read them ;3**

* * *

 **Chapter 5: A Long Awaited Visit**

 _'Cause missing you is a slow burn, and every night the Earth turns,_

 _I'm reminded that the night is only half the time_

 _Marcelline POV_

It was another day of running errands in the Host Club, and I'd also somehow been convinced to cosplay with them this time too. Well, not that it took that much convincing since I was offered a beautiful red kimono with yellow and pink floral patterns. I had my notebook and pen neatly tucked into the yellow obi, because I was in the same situation as last week where I placed orders for guests who wanted to have Yuzuha-san make clothes for them. I'd also gotten many requests during classes all throughout the day from girls who hadn't gotten the chance to talk to me at the party. Not that I minded wearing the clothes, since not only were they ridiculously comfortable and soft, but it was the least I could do to help Yuzuha-san advertise after she'd agreed to let me live in her house despite barely knowing me. Although, to be fair, I seemed to be getting along pretty well with all the Hitachiin's and their staff so far considering I'd only been living there for a few weeks.

I tried to steady my trembling arms as I was again left with the duty of carrying the tray of china tea sets to guests in order to refill their tea. I didn't mind it on the most part, since it meant I could chat to the guests which was always nice since a majority of them were actually quite lovely, and only became the insane fangirls I originally knew them as when the hosts did something 'amazing' which was (apparently) all the time. However, what I minded was the fact that all these delicate little cups of scolding hot tea, water and jugs of cold milk were unrealistically heavy. I had been thinking of working out so I could be in better shape next time Yuzuha-san wanted me to subtly model for her while at the club, but now I was wondering if I should just spare myself the money and the time by carrying these trays around for the duration of the club every day; then I'd surely be buff as hell in a matter of days. With that in mind, I decided it would ease my pain in the long run if I did some warm ups or stretches from now on so that I didn't get tired out so quickly next time.

Currently, I was at Suoh's table. I mean, _Tamaki's_ table. Almost everyone else who knew him called him by his first name a majority of the time, so it felt weird to be the only one calling him something else. He was picking up each cup individually in turn, and dramatically showcasing it to the guests on his sofa with him; popping their personal bubbles with the thorns of the red roses that bloomed around him in the process. All the girls were indecisive, and every time he put one cup down to pick up another I felt like my arms were close to shattering just as easily as the china would if I suddenly decided to give up and drop everything.

I sighed, taking the time to try and distract myself from my dead arms by looking around at the scenery before me. Since the weather was nice and the sakura trees were blooming, the Host Club had decided to set up business in one of the school's large tea gardens outside. It wasn't too sunny or too windy, so there was luckily no risk of anything blowing away or falling over unless it was knocked. However, the sakura petals danced down to the ground with an air of grace on an imaginary breeze. I smile to myself, feeling content as I let the feeling of peace take over my mind and listened to the calm chattering of guests and birds. Never mind. Jelly arms are back.

Tamaki's guests finally chose their desired tea set causing me to nod my goodbyes politely before scurrying over to the nearest table, gently yet hurriedly placing it down and shaking my arms as if doing an outdated jazz dance to bring them back to life. Miss Tsubaki's wandering gaze locked with mine for a moment from where she was sitting at Honey and Mori's station (I'd noticed they were her favourite hosts, since she sat with them more often than anyone else). I sent her a sheepish smile and a wave that she returned warmly, making me feel happy to think that I was finally starting to make new friends, or at least well aquainted acquaintances*. With everything that had been going on, what with finding my brother again, reuniting with Haruhi, helping out Yuzuha-san and doing deeds for the Host Club all while still trying to get some studying done, I hadn't really had much time to get chummy with other students. Let alone go visit the hospital.

Bracing myself this time, I picked up the tray again before strolling over and sitting in the space next to her on the tatami mat. I carefully set the tray down on the floor infront of us before my arms could get tired again, letting them help themselves to the contents. I noticed that the two third years were yet to arrive, so I took it upon myself to chat with Miss Tsubaki and her friend (the same one as before) to keep them occupied. I actually found myself having a lot of fun talking to them, and we even ended up trading phone numbers. I found out their full names were Sakura Tsubaki and Asuko Kirina, and they both actually sat somewhere behind me in my English class which I greatly appreciated since Haruhi and the twins weren't in that one with me, and it had been awkward and boring so far with no familiar faces to talk to.

After a while, Honey, Mori and Haruhi arrived with ingredients and bowls for some kind of traditional green tea I'd never heard of before. I would have stayed longer, but I couldn't help feeling guilty from noticing that I'd already been neglecting my duties long enough. Reluctantly, I picked up my tray again and promised to text them both later. I saw one of the twins subtly waving me over, but I couldn't tell which from this distance. The pair of them stood up to greet me as I came over, and to my relief they actually took some of the cups off for me to lighten the load.

One of them suddenly stumbled a little, managing to catch himself before he fell but not before some of the steaming hot liquid had already splashed his finger, burning it and creating a patch of red. He yelled and jerked his hand back, holding it to his chest. "Kaoru!" The other twin called out frantically, catching the attention of the guests and confirming my suspicions of which was which. It had taken time, but I was starting to get the hang of it. I watched blankly as Hikaru dramatically pulled his brother closer to him, bringing Kaoru's injured finger to his mouth and sucking it. Wait, _what_?! Three of their guests had something resembling a heart attack as I suppressed an eye roll.

Despite the fact that they were trying to carry on with their act, I could tell that Kaoru was actually in pain. Sighing, I picked up a small cloth from the tray which I'd put on their coffee table, and took hold of Kaoru's wrist before yanking it gently to remove it from Hikaru's mouth. "Don't be weird." I said, sending them a look as I dabbed the cloth in the colder water (why we'd need cold water to make tea was beyond me, but I suppose in this situation I had no need to complain) before wrapping it around his finger and holding it there. The guests who hadn't already swooned from earlier were doing so now, fanning themselves and squealing at eachother. I tried to keep my blush under control, deciding to ignore the way the twins were looking at me and how close I was to Kaoru at the moment.

One of the remaining conscious fangirls began violently shaking her swooning friend. "Come on, you have to watch! You don't know when something like this will ever happen again!"

Conveniently enough, Kyoya-senpai just so happened to be nearby and popped up beside them with multiple thin picture books in his hands. Each one had an aesthetically pleasing picture of each of the hosts that could probably used as computer wallpapers. I watched as Kyoya-senpai quickly flipped through all the books in turn, showing more pictures of the hosts, including himself, in different scenarios and poses from previous club hours. There were even a few of me, and I couldn't decide if was creeped out or flattered. Probably a comfortable amount of both. Kyoya-senpai went on to use a wide range of metaphors to sell the books to the listening guests for unreasonable prices, and I was again torn between feeling disgusted or impressed.

"I'll take them all!"

"Me too, please!"

Guests and even girls walking past the garden who happened to overhear were popping up left and right and crowding around him with a burning, fiery passion in their eyes. Like I mentioned before, most of them are good people, but it just so happens that they lose their collective shit when something interesting comes up regarding the hosts.

"Well, at least we know how the club makes extra money now." The twins mused on either side of me. I was again reminded how close I was to the younger twin, and released his hand to let him hold it himself.

I absentmindedly ran my finger lightly over my hair, which was pulled over my shoulder and simply yet professionally crafted into a french-plait by the twins, with various pink sakura buds woven in to go with my kimono. The older Hitachiin beside me instantly swatted my hand back down. "Stop that, you'll ruin our masterpiece." He said, half-teasing despite his deadly serious expression. It was true it was a masterpiece, and the pair had taken over half an hour to not only style everything but spray it over so that they could feel guaranteed there wouldn't be a hair out of place.

Before I could say anything in response, I noticed that both the twins had apparently managed to go from where we were standing to where Haruhi was hosting with Honey and Mori, pull her away from them and drag her back here all in the space of about five seconds. She was now at my side, each with a twin draping his arm around our shoulders. "Have you two decided on your elective courses for this term?" They asked innocently. So innocent that it made them seem guilty. My suspicion that they were up to something was proven right when I looked over my shoulder to see a large aura of gloom growing behind us. I was just barely able to make out Tamaki's sulking figure in it and rolled my eyes accordingly.

"What about conversational French?" Kaoru suggested.

"I don't know..." Haruhi said absentmindedly, more to herself than as a reply to the younger twin's question. She turned her head to me as if to say 'I will if you do', and I honestly didn't see any reason to object. As elective courses, we're normally offered up to four choices, but most people only pick three in order to have a free period at some point during the day. Needless to say, I would gladly be one of those people. I'd already decided that I wanted to take home economics, and Haruhi had convinced me to take textiles with her but I was stuck on what to pick as a third course. I wasn't particularly bad at French, so it was sure to be a relatively easy choice as well as a fun one, since I was certain any boring lesson with people like the twins could be turned into an adventure _somehow_.

"Yeah, I don't see why not." I said with a shrug. The two gingers smiled triumphantly at the depressed blonde behind them who was now sitting cross legged like a toddler infront of a board Kyoya-senpai pointed at with a large pie chart on it. I decided I wasn't going to acknowledge it.

"Then it's settled!" They cheered, extra loud so he would be able to hear them from back there. How considerate of them.

In my peripheral vision, I suddenly saw Tamaki jolt into an alert standing position with a shriek before dashing over to us while frantically chanting 'I don't want to hear it! I don't want to hear it!' over and over. "HARUHI!" He yelled despite now being right infront of her with his hands on her shoulders. "From now on you and Marcie are forbidden from hanging around those shady twins!" Damn, that's cold. Also...how are we even meant to do that? The four of us have homeroom together as well as a bunch of other classes. Not to mention the fact that I literally live with them and, at this point in time, have no where else to go. Sure thing Tamaki, I'll start avoiding the twins for you. In that case, if any of you guys ever want to find me from now on, just scan the streets since I'll probably be sleeping on a park bench somewhere. Have fun at the club while I starve to death, everyone.

"Who you callin' shady?!" One of the red-heads in question called as the pair pumped their fists in the air like offended cheer-leaders. "Yeah, look who's talking!" The other one added. I

Tamaki jolted as if he'd been struck by lightning, and for a brief moment I thought he was actually going to take what they'd said into account before any hope of that was immediately shattered by him saying "All right then, we can no longer keep it a secret from everyone that Haruhi is a girl!" I strongly resisted the urge to facepalm. What did that have to do with anything? "Daddy just wants you to have a normal life and go back to the girl you used to be! Make yourself some girl friends and lead a wholesome life!" He cried, suddenly weeping and dabbing his eyes with a fancy embroidered handkerchief that had miraculously appeared in his hand at some point. What did he mean, 'make some girl friends'? What am I, a _roach_?

I saw Haruhi's jaw tighten and eyebrow twitch in the corner of my eye, a sign she was probably biting her tongue to avoid saying something mean. I would have smiled in amusement if I wasn't doing the exact same thing.

"So change back! Change right now!" He yelled, shaking her shoulders as if his cute starter Pokemon had just evolved into something...slightly less cute. Don't lie to yourself. We've all thought it.

"I'm not a Pokemon, Senpai." Haruhi said. Her face and tone were indifferent but the way he was shaking her made her voice sound almost robotic, and I struggled stifling a laugh as I caught the twins doing impressive silent robot dances behind them in my line of sight.

"Stop yelling, Tama-chan, you're scaring the guests! She'll probably be found out the day after tomorrow through physical exams anyways." Honey appeared on Mori's shoulders, his words making Tamaki release the dizzy brunette in alarm.

She quirked a brow, swatting his hands away from her personal bubble. "Then there's no doubt," Tamaki's face blanched, "everyone'll know I'm a girl, I guess."

Kyoya-senpai let out a quiet, absent-minded hum as he flipped a few pages back in his notebook before furiously scribbling something down. "How odd, it completely slipped my mind."

Half of me was concerned and wondered if he was okay, because in the time I'd known him, Kyoya-senpai didn't seem like the kind to forget something like an exam, even if it was just a physical one. However, the other half of me was incredibly amused at the subtle hope that I'd one day get a chance to look through that notebook to discover that every page is just full of actual childish scribbles, just so he could seem like he was busy so that no one would bother him. Like when Michelle or myself would pretend to be sick at family gatherings to avoid The Routine of Replys™️ at family gatherings. As much as we liked repeating 'no, I don't have a boyfriend', 'yes, I have gotten taller', and sometimes 'no, I'm not interested in going on a date with your 'also-just-happens-to-be-single-son/nephew/friend's kid', it really did get boring after 00.02 seconds. So one of us would start whining and clutching their stomach as the other ushered them out of the room and upstairs to our bedroom. We'd hibernate under a horde of blankets we'd previously asked our maid, Samantha, to prepare for us sometime before. Then we'd spend the rest of the night watching old, low-budget movies, occasionally joined by Honey on the rare times he was there. It may sound kind of rude and boring, but I think the little things like that are what I miss the most.

When the hour ended and the bell rang to signal that the school day was officially over, I found myself still thinking of her. After changing back into my uniform and waiting at the club's door for Honey, I fumbled in my pocket for the slip of paper Yuzuha-san had given me the day I moved into her home, absentmindedly tracing the indents of the dried ink with my thumb. It creased slightly underneath my tightening grip as I took out my phone with my free hand to dial the number. I had time before visiting hours were over, and decided to leave a note for the twins saying I'd be home soon as Honey and I left the building with wide smiles, dialing the number.

* * *

As we walked into the hospital, I locked eyes with a woman who I would have assumed to be in her early thirties if not for her grey wiry hair pulled into a tight bun. Her kind, dark eyes sparkled with familiarity. "I haven't seen you two here together before. Who're you here to see?"

"Michelle, please. Has she made any progress since last time?" I asked, trying not to let the flicker of hope I felt bubbling in my chest show in my voice.

Her eyebrow's creased together in poorly suppressed pity. "I'm afraid not. But she's still healthy and stable."

"That's good." I replied, flashing her a smile that I hoped masked my slight disappointment. I sent her a nod in thanks before we made our way to our sister's hospital room.

I knew there was no point in knocking on the door, but I did it anyway to humour myself. "We're coming in!" I called gently before opening the door and stepping inside, letting Honey close it behind us. They say people in coma's can hear you speaking, so I liked to believe it was true.

"It's weird finally being in here at the same time as you." Honey confessed, smiling at me akwardly as we each took a seat at Michelle's bedside. Since we'd been forbidden from seeing eachother, we weren't allowed to be at the hospital at the same time either, so we had communicated by leaving notes for eachother on the nightstand.

I smiled fondly at the memory, remembering how I'd felt the first time I'd seen a note from him next to the one I'd dared to leave the day before. The first form of contact we'd had in two years. "Yeah, but I think I'll get used to it." I replied, putting my free hand on his shoulder as the other held Michelle's limp hand.

He laughed lightly, following my actions. "Me too."

We sat in a comfortable silence, each of us staring at the girl infront of us in a way that would have been considered worrying if the situation was different.

As expected, she hadn't moved since the last time I saw her. Her hair was long and curly, fanned out on the pillow beneath her head and the bed covers rose and fell on her chest with each slow, melodic breath. Her expression was peaceful and unbothered. I found myself staring at her eyelids, imagining that they would flutter open any second to reveal the blue eyes hidden beneath that I missed to much. The pictures I had did them no justice. In my memories, they were a deep, clear blue like the raging sea. They sparkled as if they were full of fallen stars, shimmering with energy and joy that promised mischeif and good times worth remembering.

And yet, behind glossy picture frames, they were just a dull and simple blue.

Had it really been almost two years since I'd seen them? Refusing to feel sad in the precious time left of visiting hours, I directed my attention to the wall behind her which was littered with post-it notes. Each one had a heart-felt message from Haruhi, my mother, Honey or me that we wanted her to see when she woke up. My eyes scanned over all the 'get better soon!'s and 'happy birthday!'s from classmates in middle school who eventually stopped coming.

Not long ago, I'd started to give up hope too. But then one day she randomly squeezed my hand as I got up to leave. Doctors said it was a good sign, and I couldn't help expecting a miracle. And yet, two months have gone by since then and the sensation almost feels like a faded dream at this point.

We eventually broke the silence, talking about our old memories of her, what we'd do when she woke up and how she'd probably react when she met everyone at the club. I knew for a fact that she'd flip her shit at seeing Haruhi with short hair, since Michelle had always loved showing off her hair styling skills with it.

With roughtly ten minutes of visiting time left, we hesitantly decided to go visit our mother at the same time, letting her know that we'd found each other.

I knocked gently before stepping in and letting Honey close the door behind us as we stepped in. Her long blonde hair was greasy and disheveled, and her warm brown eyes almost seemed to be sinking back into their sockets from exhaustion. But she smiled all the same, as if things were exactly how they were supposed to be. Then she did a double-take and gaped at seeing the two of us side by side. "What..?" She mumbled, and I couldn't tell if she was narrowing her eyes in confusion or squinting because of the sunlight. I walked over and closed the curtains just in case.

"Mitskuni goes to Ouran, too. We bumped into each other." I explained. Her gaze softened as her eyelids drooped shut in content.

"That's good." She croaked out before bursting into a small coughing fit. Honey walked closer and sat on the edge of her bed, holding her hand cautiously.

"You, um..." he trailed off awkwardly, unsure of what to tell her. It had been nearly five years, after all.

She seemed to catch on to his nervousness and moved her hand in his to tighten her grip. "You haven't changed a bit."

They chatted, and I occasionally piped up whenever they sank into an awkward silence, but mostly stayed quiet to give them time to catch up. I went home that day with a smile on my face and a warm, giddy feeling in my chest.

* * *

Due to Tamaki's traumatic realisation the previous day, he decided the club wouldn't see any guests today, which meant we were all lounging around doing nothing. Tamaki was daydreaming in a photogenic pose in his arm chair, Honey and Mori were eating cake and Kyoya was sitting at the end of the long table by the window on his laptop, as if he was the boss of a company who'd arrived to a business meeting early.

Meanwhile Haruhi, Hikaru and I were leaning over Kaoru who had dared to fall asleep on one of the sofas. Each of us were either giggling or shushing eachother, all with a different coloured pen in our hands. I was inches from giving him the world's best blue goatee when Tamaki suddenly laughed like a five-year-old Santa Claus and called "Oh, you~!" to apparently no one. The sudden noise made Kaoru fidget before his eyelids fluttered open and immediately narrowed, unamused at the scene of the three of us weilding biro's in his line of sight.

"What are you guys doing?" He said with a raised eyebrow, in a tone that suggested it was more of a warning than a question. Haruhi, Hikaru and I each exchanged a glance before throwing the pens over our shoulders. I avoided the younger twin's piercing stare, hands clasped behind my back with an innocent whistle while the other two engaged themselves in a somehow extremely interesting conversation of why ':)' was more aesthetically pleasing than '(:'. Again, don't lie to yourself. You know it's true.

When I glanced down at Kaoru, he was looking at the pair aswell, but with an odd expression I'd never seen before. A strange mix of emotions that were hard to explain. I nudged his arm gently, sending him a look I hoped was reassuring. "Everything okay?"

The look in his eyes faded, but there was still clearly something behind them. A confused, maybe even scared, kind of sadness that was impossible to hide completely. And yet, he nodded with a smile. "Yeah, just a little grouchy." He said, dismissively. I reluctantly nodded with slightly narrowed eyes, shoving my concerns temporarily to the back of my brain. Even if I still didn't feel convinced, I was aware that now wasn't exactly the time or place to push a satisfactory answer out of him, and being grouchy seemed like a good enough excuse for now. He had just been woken from a nap, after all.

I was startled out of my thoughts by Honey, swinging his legs as Mori walked over with the smaller boy on his shoulders. "Tama-chan must be having a really good day dream!" He chirped, offering me a slice of cake from his tall, human pedestal.

Hikaru nodded with a hand on his hip, brow raised and nose scrunched. "Yeah, he's kinda creeping me out. Like, a lot."

The blonde in question suddenly sprang to life, jumping up from his chair to point at Hikaru (who looked like he was on the verge of a heart attack) dramatically with a smug expression as he yelled "Jealous, Hikaru?!" to which the older twin rolled his eyes in reply and released a half-hearted 'ugh'. As expected, Tamaki ignored his response completely and instead went on to explain how he and his brilliance had 'already see the outcome of this charade'.

"Do tell, O' superior intellectual one." Hikaru said, his tone laced with salt as he crossed his arms.

Tamaki's eyes glinted as if what Hikaru had said was somewhat part of an elaborate plan. "Clearly, this anime is a romantic school comedy. Haruhi and I are the main characters making us love interests."

Kyoya coughed and muttered something under his breath as he tapped on his keyboard. I blinked and did a double take, thinking I must have misheard him because there was no way the distinguished and intelligent Kyoya Otori just said "Odd...I thought this was a fanfiction."

"What does that make us, then?" Kaoru joined in, propping himself up on his elbows.

I didn't think it was possible, but Tamaki sparkled even brighter as he directed his smig grin from Hikaru to Kaoru. "Why, I'm glad you asked!" He practically sang as he summoned a stick from nowhere, making all of us (save for him and Haruhi) shuffle back a few steps before somehow managing to carve a small line in the tiled floor that I was almost certain he wouldn't have to pay for. "Marcie, you can pick a love interest of your own from the three fine gentleman here who aren't related to you. The remaining six will be the homosexual supporting cast! I will request that none of you step over this line."

"But what about when we need to go to class?"

"Or to the bathroom?"

"Or to the store?"

"Or home?"

"Or to get cake!?1"

"Yeah."

"IT'S METAPHORICAL." The blonde huffed, cutting us off before we could question his ingenious plan any further.

"Either way, boss," Hikaru began.

"I don't think you get it." Kaoru finished, each of them posing with a finger to their chin.

"If the school finds out that Haru-chan's a girl, she won't be able to stay in the Host Club!" Honey explained, hugging his plush bunny, Usa-chan, to his chest.

"She dressed like a girl in middle school, right?" Hikaru said, turning to me after a moment of thought, continuing when I nodded in confirmation. "She must have been pretty popular with the guys."

I nodded again. "Yeah, actually. If I remember correctly, someone would confess to her like...once a month, at least?"

"Ohhh, I see..." Kaoru said slowly as realisation dawned over Tamaki's features. "So the boss wouldn't even be able to get close to her, in that case."

"But we would, since we're in classes with her all day..." Hikaru added before both the twins adopted evil grins as they sliwly turned to the now frozen blonde behind them.

Tamaki suddenly sprang into action, latching onto the brunette next to him and shaking her violently. "Don't worry, Haruhi! We'll all keep your secret, so promise you'll stay our beloved princess!"

She looked thoroughly disturbed but somewhat played along. "Sure." She deadpanned. "Whatever."

"Y'know, I think both of us would end up kinda peeved if we had to watch all the guys flirt with her all day." Hikaru said with a huff, closely followed by Kaoru who nodded in agreement as I quietly scoffed to myself from briefly remembering what Tamaki had said earlier. 'Jealous, Hikaru?!'

In response, Tamaki wheeled out a large whiteboard, from seemingly nowhere, that already had important-looking scribbles and diagrams littered over it. He whipped out the same stick he'd carved a line in the foor with and used it to whack the board in a way that seemed random and yet somehow still professional. "Okay Squad Members, at tomorrow's Physical Exam, position yourselves in formation A, got it?"

Honey and the twins gave him a unified salute and a chipper call of "Sir, yes, Sir!" While Mori let out a quiet hum of acknowledgement and Kyoya rolled his eyes, though he tapped something purposefully into his keyboard all the same.

Meanwhile, Haruhi put a thoughtful finger to her chin before she suddenly clenched into a fist and landed it on her open palm in an 'Aha!' gesture. "Oh, I've got it now...they're worried that if people find out I'm a girl, I'll have to leave the Host Club..." She muttered to herself. It took me a moment, but my eyebrows knitted together as my eyes narrowed slightly and I felt my smile fade into a straight line.

"Aren't you supposed to be the _smart_ one?"

Upon hearing my voice, Honey suddenly turned to me, keeping up his cutesy act despite the small fleck of worry in his eyes. "If Haru-chan _does_ end up leaving the Host Club, does that mean you'd leave, too?" I smiled warmly after a short moment of thought and patted his head while shaking mine.

"Nope! It's like what Kaoru said earlier; if I left, I wouldn't get to see you as much. Besides, the twins are my ride home." I reassured him,noticing a warm feeling blossom to life in my chest when he smiled in relief as a reply.

We jolted back into the other conversation when Tamaki suddenly rasied his voice. "Are you saying that you hare being a host?! That yOU HATE THIS CLUB?!"

"Ya."

Tamaki was simultaneously shattered like glass into a million pieces and struck by multiple bolts of lighting which no one seemed to be too bothered by.

"Do something, Kyoya-senpai! The subject doesn't seem to have any motivation whatsoever!"

Kyoya shrugged, clearly unbothered, while Mori glanced up in a way that was surprisingly dramatic for someone so...blank. "Fancy tuna." He said.

The other hosts' eyes glinted with evil intent as they all turned to Haruhi who had now begun to sweat nervously.

I rolled my eyes, smiling softly. Welp. She's officially fucked.

* * *

 _Even when I'm hurting, I know that this is worth it, tell me it'll be alright,_

 _gotta give me something to get me through the nothing one more night_

* * *

 _~ So Far Away - Mary Lambert_

* * *

 **I decided to change Michelle's time in the coma from three years to almost two, since three seemed to be pushing it a bit. A big step up from being dead, like in the original. Good for her. I also moved the time they'd been separated from Honey from seven and half years to nearly five, since seven felt like too much of a stretch.**

 **If you happen to spot any spelling errors or grammar mistakes, please let me know in the reviews so I can fix them!**

 **Until next time~ ^3^**

* * *

*For anyone who doesn't remember her (which I wouldn't blame you for since I only briefly mentioned her a few chapters ago) she's the Monika look-a-like from chapter 2 who passed out when Honey put the flower necklace thing on Mori. Long brown curly hair pulled into a ponytail with a long white ribbon that was tied in a bow. Bby Monika. But I'm changing her name here for plot convenience (but mostly just because I want to).


	6. Last one folks

**I don't wanna lie to you guys, I probably won't keep going with this, updates will probably be few and far between since my motivation is basically non-existent, I'm really sorry for those of you that were invested in this and have stuck with me. I just wanted to update what little I had left from writing in advance ages ago since I know some people (including me) get worried when authors have long unexplained absences, for example there's a story on AO3 called 'Know What I've Made by the Marks on my Hands' and the author hasn't updated or anything since late 2017 and it's still on my mind.**

* * *

 **Chapter 6: And So We Continue**

 _I run and run a thousand miles,_ _and I am barely breathing,_

 _Only the fuel of a passionate heart keeps my body strong and moving forward._

 _Third person POV_

A loud tannoy beeped as a woman's muffled voice crackled throughout the halls, repeating the same message it already had been for a good ten minutes. " _We will begin conducting physical examinations shortly. Will all students please make their way to the clinic in their respective buildings in an orderly manner._ "

Haruhi and Marcelline absentmindedly mouthed along with the announcement while pulling a range of faces, while Kaoru rolled his eyes in annoyance and Hikaru clenched his fist which was shaking vengefully at the tannoy as they passed it. "I'll show you an orderly manner." He grumbled through gritted teeth.

"What's that 'formation A' junk you guys were spouting yesterday, by the way? What do you guys even do at these kinds of exams?" Haruhi asked, seemingly unbothered when her second question was answered dissmissively by each of the identical red-heads in sync, the first one having been ignored entirely.

"I don't think it's any different than one you'd get in any other school." Hikaru began.

"Yeah, why'd they be any different for us just because we've got more money than you?" Kaoru added.

Marcie narrowed her brows in thought with a hand to her chin, considering whether or not to bring up that Kaoru's comment had sounded like an insult. However, she was given no time to dwell on the idea any further as they and the rest of their classmates approached the clinic's double doors. She and Haruhi paused, but the twins nonchalantly pushed the doors open and strolled past them with the rest of their classmates tagging along behind.

"Welcome, students!" A chorus of creepily cheerful nurses and doctors called in a synchronised sing-song tone. They were all lining the sides of a red carpet that stretched from the door to the opposite wall which was a reasonably far distance away. The room was basically as big as the hallway they'd come in from, with a slightly higher roof and less windows.

"What...the hell...?" Marcie murmured in a tone that sounded like more of an alarmed and slightly panicked 'where am I' than a simple 'what's going on'.

Haruhi whacked the back of her head as they caught up with the twins with a quiet whisper of 'watch your language', and she politely rephrased the blonde's question despite being just as confused. "The hell is this?" Well...y'know, she did her best.

Meanwhile the twins simply shrugged, hands in pockets as they loitered casually past. "It's just the usual."

Haruhi's eyebrow twitched from irritation. "The usual?" She echoed to no one in particular as the four were each called off by their nurses.

* * *

 _Marcelline POV_

My exam had been over and done with pretty quickly, so I was able to leave the building and head over to the one that held the clubrooms, since the exam had taken up all the time for the rest of classes. I ain't complaining. I got outside in time to see the rest of the host club gathered together on the path infront of the school gates, all watching a disheveled man in a doctor's coat stumble down the road in a somehow determined way. Curious, I walked closer to the group and stood beside Mori who had Honey on his shoulders. He leaned down as I stretched up on my tip-toes to whisper into his ear. "What'd I miss?"

He chuckled lightheartedly. "It's a long story."

After deciding that I probably wouldn't want to know anyway, I followed the hosts back to the club room and started helping to setup the props for our cosplay. Today's theme was traditional Japanese, and I had an outfit of my own to advertise and take orders for Yuzuha-san again. Their grandmother even paid a visit to help them make the kimonos and teach us how to put them on properly to avoid a repeat of last time where we struggled for nearly the whole club hour to knot the obis.

Their grandmother (Kazuha) was an undeniably...unique woman. The twins constantly insisted she was some kind of demon, and avoided talking to her unless it was absolutely necessary. The first thing she'd done upon meeting me was squish my cheeks together, fix my collar and ask which one of the twins I was dating. Kaoru spat out his drink as Hikaru laughed loudly before correcting her.

I smiled to myself as I recalled my interaction with her and made my way to Tamaki's table, picking up my tray of tea-sets after triumphantly doing warm-ups like I'd previously vowed to myself that I would, and ignoring the weird stares I was getting from the guests around me. Why go to Tamaki's table first? It's because I like getting the worst things out of the way as soon as possible. Like when taking an exam or eating a pack of skittles. One considerably more fun than the other.

I managed to refill the tea and leave before Tamaki had the chance to pick up each individual cup like he had the other day. I sped over to the twins next who were being complimented on their kimonos. A few of the guests immediately asked to place orders as soon as I got there. Speaking of 'immediately', the twins didn't waste any time grabbing eachother's chins and making suggestive faces and phrases. Always a delight to witness, of course. And here when I say 'delight', I mean I throw up in my mouth a little every time.

"They're up to that nonsense again." Haruhi said, rolling her eyes from where she'd appeared beside me. Having finished with their table, I returned the twins' subtle wave as we started to walk to the next table.

"Surprise." I drawled, copying her eye roll.

"Haruhi, you've booked another appointment. Keep up the good work." Kyoya said with zero enthusiasm from where he'd popped up beside us, although he at least had enough traces of human emotion to look amused when I barely managed to hold in a shocked yelp at his sudden appearance. "I'm not going to charge you interest on your debt like I normally would, so you should be able to pay it off if you keep this up. Although, the rental fee for that kimono you're wearing is nothing to sneeze at."

"Achoo." I deadpanned, observing the blank look he sent me.

"Bless you." He said.

Haruhi let out a snort, badly hidden behind her sleeve in the form of a fake cough, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't find it just as funny as she did. I was just slightly better at hiding it. Kinda. Kyoya politely waited for us to finish our strained giggles and regain our posture before an eager guest came over, her cheeks slightly red.

"Hello, Kyoya-senpai! I still can't get over how cute you look in your kimono! You don't happen to have anymore of those picture books coming out soon, do you?" A few other guests who'd overheard immediately lit up and bounded over, curious to hear his answer.

"Unfortunately not, ladies. There's nothing planned at this point in time." He said, putting on a smile that seemed out of place on someone of his character. In response, a majority of the guests let out deflated sighs as they sulked back to their seats, but a few hung around as the twins walked over after having listened in.

"Doesn't the club make tons of money off of those, though?" Hikaru asked with Kaoru nodding along while leaning on his shoulder.

"We do, but I haven't been able to get any with a quality that's up to my standards as of late. Those picture books were just full of hidden-camera shots. If we want to get ones of higher-quality that will actually make profit, I'm afraid we'll have to start digging into the school's budget." Kyoya explained.

First of all, the idea that Kyoya had casually mentioned having hidden cameras littered around the school made me fidget uncomfortably. Secondly, 'digging into the school's budget'? Haruhi seemed to have picked up on that part too, because she leaned closer to my ear in order to whisper to me.

"Are they really allowed to do that?" She asked, and I noticed a hint of something like fear in her tone that probably would have made me laugh if I didn't feel the same.

I just shrugged instead. "I guess anything's possible when your club leader is the chairman's son." Her response was to simply roll her eyes as we started to walk away from the other three; a perfectly timed, air-headed laugh of Tamaki's ringing in my ears from nearby.

Honey ran up to us on the way with teary eyes and his arms raised in a way similar to a toddler when they want to be hugged or picked up. I immediately knelt down to do both, squeezing him tight before asking what was wrong. "My sandal! I lost it!" He cried out between sniffles. Before either of us could do or say anything, Mori was at my side with Honey's sandal already in his grip.

"I noticed that you dropped it." He said simply, holding Honey's foot and slipping it on for him. Tsubaki and Kiriko were at their table nearby, watching with content smiles as Honey leapt from my arms to Mori's for a tearful embrace.

Looking around, I saw that he wasn't the only one. The twins were cradling eachothers faces as per usual, though this time Kaoru had tears in his eyes with a somewhat wistful expression. Tamaki was, of course, also crying as he spewed some crap about how being in the presence of such beautiful princesses was overflowing some kind of fountain? Good for him.

Haruhi seemed to have noticed as well, since she was glancing at them all with an unreadable expression before turning to me, brow raised. "Is it just me or does everyone seem more...sensitive...today?" She said, deciding it best to choose her words carefully.

I shrugged. "Maybe it's just that time of the—ack!" She cut me off with a nimble jab in the ribs.

"I wonder how they can all cry so easily, though?" She changed the subject as she drew her elbow back after cruelly attacking me, with Hikaru and Kaoru just so happening to be passing by, the perfect distance to be bumped into. The older twin let out a small noise of surprise as I spotted a small bottle slip from his sleeve and hit the floor with a light smack.

The pair of them blanched as Haruhi bent to pick it up. Her eyebrows narrowed as she read the label. "You've gotta be kidding," she mused in disappointment while turning the bottle around to show me, "eye drops? Isn't that cheating?"

Hikaru scoffed and swiftly plucked the small bottle from her hand, tucking it back into his sleeve after glancing around briefly to make sure no guests had seen. "For your information, using eye drops is totally normal."

"No woman alive can resist a man on there verge of tears." Kaoru piped up, nodding in agreement beside him.

Haruhi was still unconvinced, her expression turning to one of disapproval. "That's cheating." She repeated. Hikaru only waved a dismissive hand in her direction with a subtle eye roll as the younger of the Hitachiins rummaged in his sleeve as if he was looking for something. Part of me wondered if they had hidden pockets in there. If so, why? What are they hiding? My eyebrows lowered as my suspicion grew higher and I sent a narrow-eyed glance in their direction. _I am onto you._

He whipped out two small boxes with a traditional Japanese sweet inside, handing one to each of us with a deep bow. "Here you go, ladies."

Haruhi mentioned to Hikaru about how something like this would be a nice offering for her mother's shrine, to which Tamaki instantly shoved him aside to pile sweet after sweet ontop of the one she already had, relishing in the opportunity to get a swoon or two from the surrounding guests.

Meanwhile Kaoru raised a brow at how I was holding the box between my thumb and finger at arm's length. "It won't bite, you know."

My eyes narrowed as I strained my arm in an attempt to move the suspicious thing further away from me. "But I will."

He sighed, shaking his head slowly while patting mine as if I was a small child. "That's kind of the point. It's meant to be eaten, after all."

I huffed, accepting defeat by reluctantly popping open the box. Kaoru seemed satisfied until I brutally ripped the sweet into two and offered him half. "If I'm going to eat it then you need to as well. That way I know you haven't poisoned it."

At that explanation, his look of amused confusion melted away as he took it from me with no hesitation and wiggled his eyebrows triumphantly while he chewed. "As if I'd waste my poison on you, loser."

In the midst of rolling my eyes, I noticed a head of long brown hair decorated with one large pink pow standing meekly by the open double doors. "Who's that?" I asked, suddenly nudging Kaoru roughly with my elbow who nearly choked in response but smoothly played it off as a normal cough. Almost too smooth.

"Looks like the Host Club's got a new guest~." He purred along with Hikaru who had suddenly appeared at his side, each of them expertly whipping out a rose from the mysterious Mary Poppins pockets to glide over and greet the newcomer. Poor thing. Run while you still can. It's not too late for you yet!

"Watching from afar is no fun."

"Come in! We don't bite."

Yeah, no, it's too late for you.

"Please, Miss?" The twins chorused, radiating petals and glitter. I once again thanked the heavens for not giving me hay-fever.

The girl flinched away from them, causing Tamaki to stomp over and lecture them on How To Be Gentlemen and not overwhelm the first-time-guests. Even though he also brandished a rose as he spoke to the girl, ignoring the way she fidgeted uncomfortably as he got way too close for comfort.

 _HE GOT A SMACK?!_

"Get away from me, you're a phony!" The girl yelled out as she swiftly whacked him across the face. He stumbled back a few feet, his Princely Aura having shattered along with his pride.

"Wai-what do you mean, _phony_?!"

"Just what I said—you're phony! I find it hard to believe that someone like you is the princely character of this host club!"* She persisted; the shy and timid girl from just a second ago having morphed into a loud, boisterous (and let's be real, extremely annoying) person who kept jabbing a finger in Tamaki's direction and spewing out oddly-worded insults faster than a mobility scooter hurling towards Greggs Bakery at closing time. Tamaki was pierced by a labelled arrow for each one she said, jostling him this way and that from the force of them.

The rest of the hosts just watched in boredom while the guests still lingering in the room didn't even seem to notice. I, meanwhile, was having the time of my life. Good on this girl, annoying as she was, for not falling under his spell like what seemed to be almost every other girl in this school. The whole country maybe. That brought the total up to three girls I knew of who were immune to his flamboyant, princely ways, which must have been quite the dent in Tamaki's pride.

When the gutsy newcomer was finally satisfied with utterly crumpling Tamaki's self esteem, he paled and drifted back to us like a sheet of glamorous paper, then fell to the ground with a thud while the twins 'ooh'ed and 'ah'ed at his new technique: One Man Slow Motion. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little impressed myself, the guy was certainly an idiot but no one could deny he was entertaining.

* * *

 **That was all I had for this chapter but I had this bit lying around in my notes for a while based off a meme I saw and thought I may as well include it. My idea for the rest of the plot would be Michelle waking up and coming to school with them. the pairings I had planned were Marcie x Kao, Haruhi x Hikaru and probably Michelle and Kyoya. I'm sorry I couldn't stick with it long enough to give you guys the chance to meet her. Marcie and Michelle were actually based off my two favourite dolls as a kid, lol. I stopped playng with them when Marcie's fuckin head popped off tho! Anyways, enjoy this last lil unfinished bit.**

* * *

I watched them sit there on deck chairs, loudly sipping their drinks from straws like toddlers as they watched their maids set up their house-sized pillow fort for them further down in the garden.

"Can you not do something a little more...productive?" I asked, reluctantly taking the drink that Hikaru passed me as I was offered the chair between them.

Kaoru flicked my straw with a smug grin. "Paper straws. We're helping the environment, yo."

I supressed a grin at his goofy antics and opted for rolling my eyes instead. "Maybe instead of having paper straws, you could read paper books and, y'know, _not_ make two poor identical ladies slave away in the baking sun to conjure you up a huge fort that you'll probably be bored with in like five minutes?"

"Puh-lease, this fort will be our new home. Besides, we've read the dictionary. Every book is just a remix after that."

I'll admit, that crap about the dictionary had me stumped so I decided to ignore it for the sake of the devious plan brewing in my head that I desperately tried to stop from showing on my face. "I find it hard to believe that either of you would survive in a breezy fort with no WiFi or furniture for a few _seconds_ , let alone a night."

They each took a moment to pretend to take offence before exchanging their signature Cheshire grins. "Wanna bet?"

I let myself smile in return, allowing a fraction of malice sneak in. "Yes." Let it be known, from that point I was willingly doomed. I knew there was no way I'd win this bet since they'd probably bend the rules in their favour somehow. I honestly didn't mind, no matter what punishment they threw at me. My idea was worth it.

"If we spend the night in our fort without any of that stuff you mentioned, you have to model for our designs for the whole weekend." Their faces showed how smug they were, but jokes on them. I _intend_ to lose. Ha.

I didn't even bother asking what I'd get if I won before leaving, which I probably should've done in order to avoid suspicion, but I was in too much of a rush to find Mana-san.

She was in the library, sitting peacefully in a chair not too far from the door with a book on the desk infront of her. She jolted violently when I entered, and I had to give her a moment to calm down before I continued.

"We need to buy tin-foil immediately. A lot of it."

they cover every individual object in the twins' room in tin foil. All the maids are off duty the next day so they have no help in getting rid of it all. Marcie has to be their model but she says "since you two loved that fort so much, I thought I'd give you the option to spend another night in it! Or, y'know, you could take care of this yourselves?"

"But if I aimed to lose and succeeded in losing, in a way, doesn't that mean I won?"

"...no." He said slowly, pricking me with another pin.

* * *

 _The world always changes around us, but weakness will always remain,_

 _through all the pain, believe in who we are right here and now_

* * *

 _~ Sprint - Vic Mignogna_

* * *

 **I skipped most of the physical exam because honestly that episode wasn't all that interesting to me so I thought I'd shorten it and merge the next episode so the chapter wouldn't be too short. Lead good lives y'all, thanks to anyone who stopped by.**

* * *

*My phone keeps trying to correct 'host' to 'hostel' and like...thanks, but...that would be a _very_ different show.


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